Digiworld Adventure Season Two
by Arthoxx
Summary: Season Two of Digiworld Adventure... I think the story gets a bit better now, but that's up to you all to decide! : I haven't finished it yet, but I hope to have it done as soon as possible! :D
1. Chapter 1

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Three 

A few hours of crying led me to a state where there simply wasn't anything left in my tear ducts. My eyes were sore and I just knew that they would be red, but I didn't particularly care about that. It was starting to get a bit later in the day, and all of a sudden I heard a light knocking at the door. I ignored it, but they were persistent to inform me.

"Ian?" my mother said lightly. "Dinner's ready downstairs, would you like me to bring you something?"

"I'm not hungry," I said, my voice hoarse.

I heard her sigh, the kind of sigh that says in extreme sarcasm, 'I'm okay, nothing's wrong.'

Anger twitched through me again, and I yelled, "don't sigh about it! I'm not hungry so leave me alone!"

There was silence for a moment, then I heard her footsteps going back down the stairs.

A couple long hours later, the sun had gone down. I rolled over to look at my clock, and I discovered that it was nine o'clock at night. With a deep sigh of annoyance, I heaved myself out of bed, my body cramping from being in such a confined position for so long.

The stairs took a long time to get down, and I severely hoped that I wouldn't have time to get the hang of it. I went right through the house, noticing in the corner of my eye that my family was sitting in the TV room, completely entranced by it. Shaking my head in disgust, I went by and back into the mud room and promptly went outside.

It was dark out and I went far out into our yard so I could see the stars well. Now I was thankful that we had such a big yard so I could escape. I went all the way out to the end on the bank, dropping onto my back with my arms behind my head to look at the stars.

When I first got to the Digital World, the night sky had been a mystery it. In fact, it remained that way until the second I left it. Now I was staring at a sky I had known my entire life, and I was extremely dissatisfied with it.

_"I would give everything to be back," _I thought in anguish. _"Everything and ANYTHING. I don't know how those other kids could leave like that, but they must've been completely insane." _

A cool breeze picked up and I shivered a bit. Intense loneliness sunk right back in, because I didn't have Guilmon around to light a fire and to embrace for warmth. It was as if something physical had actually been torn out of me and then smashed before my eyes. I rolled over onto my side, my arms wrapping tightly around myself for warmth. My eyes clamped shut, trying to visualise him, but my memory in this world worked in a different way. I could imagine everything about him, to the detail I could draw him, but his face was cloudy.

Tears worked their way up again, but not many fell. "Guilmon…" I whispered.

I woke up to my name being called. It was really dark now, and I was quite cold, despite the warm late spring air.

"Ian!" I heard my mother calling.

I rolled back onto my back, sitting up. I pushed the hair back behind my ears, shaking out the bits of yard waste. _"Jeez, what the hell does she want?"_ I slowly got up, scrabbling blindly for my crutches in the dark. "What?" I called back, now fully upright.

"What are you doing out here?" she demanded. "It's past midnight!"

"I was sleeping until someone woke me," I snapped.

"You'll catch a cold if you stay out here," she said, not getting too close to me and her arms folded crossly.

"I've been sleeping outside for more than two months!" I nearly shouted. "Chilliwack weather isn't going to bother me that much!"

"Well come inside now," she said, starting back to the house.

"Will you just leave me alone?" I asked furiously. "You've been dying for attention, and I'm not giving any and I don't plan on it!"

"You shouldn't be like this!" she yelled, getting past her acceptance point. "We paid a fortune for your hospital bills and this is how you thank us?"

"I'm not thanking you!" I roared, quite pissed now. "You tore me out of the one place I was happy, and there's no way you can think of getting a thank-you for that! Christ! Just leave me alone! If anything, you should be apologising! Now leave me alone!"

Her mouth opened in rage, then closed. She started to look like a fish, opening and closing her mouth, but I was satisfied when nothing returned. "Fine!" she said lightly in her sarcastic voice. With that she returned to the house, stomping the whole way.

"Good," I snorted when the door slammed shut. "Now maybe I can get some sleep." I fell back to the ground, turning over to get back to sleep.

I woke up quite early the next morning. It was pretty light out, but that was just a sign that summer was coming. With a shrug, I got up and went into the house. No one was up yet, so I made myself a quick bowl of cereal. I went into the TV room and checked the date, pleased to find that it was Monday. "At least school isn't completely crawling with people I hate," I growled in a low voice, shutting the TV back off.

As soon as I had downed my bowl of cereal, I crept back upstairs to my room, or as quietly as I could with crutches. I felt so immobilised and pathetic carrying them around, like I needed inanimate objects to help me around.

Another wave of sadness crushed down on me as I remembered how Guilmon had carried me up the stairs in the Library at South Populous beach. I had had a broken ankle then, but he hadn't come close to hesitating to help me out then. With that my attention drew back to the empty feeling that still resided in me. I faltered for a second on the stairs, clutching at my chest with a pain of sorrow, but quickly continued.

I wasn't going to let these people know my secrets. No one seemed to realise what had actually happened to me, and I wasn't in a hurry to tell them. I guess my wounds just 'magically appeared,' then. Sadness quickly turned to disgust towards the people in this house, and I stormed the rest of the way to my room.

_"Fresh clothes,"_ I thought, moving to the dresser in my room.

I opened it, glancing quickly in all three drawers to conclude that there was nothing worth picking up in them. A discoloration on the bed caught my eye, and when I turned to it, I found my white shirt and beige baggy pants folded neatly on it. My heart warmed a little at the site of them, and I quickly picked them up. When I did, though, a slight weight in them captured my attention. Confused, I unfolded them resulting in a clank and a rattle of two things dropping to the floor.

_"It couldn't be…"_ I started, looking down.

My heart leapt with joy to find my Tag and Crest with my digivice lying on the floor! As quickly as I could, I got down to the floor and scooped them up, holding them to my chest for comfort.

_"I don't know how or why, but I don't care!"_ I thought with joy. _"I've got more physical proof of my being there! Oh Guilmon!"_ I looked at my crest, my smile stopping dead in its tracks. What was usually a vibrant gold colour was now a deep and faded grey, like the life of it had been just sucked right out. _"No!"_ I thought desperately, my eyes darting to the digivice. The usually lit black light screen was now just static, hissing away before my eyes. _"GUILMON!" _

My heart cried out in pain at the sight of them, but I still put them back to their usual places: the Crest around my neck, and the digivice with my pants waist.

I sneaked back downstairs to the big washroom of my house, then started the water running, hoping desperately that no one would wake from the sound of it.

I stripped off my current clothes, discarding them in the laundry basket nearby and stepped into the shower, hardly aware that it was on its coldest setting.

Life in the Digital World had given me a stronger body, more heat resistant, a stronger threshold for pain, and overall just plain stronger. As the icy water ran over my frame, I noticed for the first time since Leomon's bar my toned chest, lightly muscled arms and solid abdomen. I wasn't some freak jock thing, but I was no longer the scrawny and impossibly skinny child that had originally left this world for the Digiworld. Also, my skin was a dark shade of brown, which was why everyone had seemed to pale to me when I 'woke up.'

Not in a mood for dawdling, I rinsed off and grabbed a towel, quickly drying myself off before slipping back into the clothes I had worn for months on end. I sniffed at them in vain, hoping to catch a scent of the Digital World – anything other than this world – but all I got was a pleasant mix of Tide and Febreeze. I sighed, pulling the shirt on, then replacing the Crest of Life to its rightful place around my neck.

I stepped out of the steamy washroom and into the mud room, starting when I heard movement from upstairs. In and instant I slipped my sandals on, noticing instantly how uncomfortable shoes really were after an extremely long time without them, and then escaped out the door.

As fast as I could, I made my way to the end of the driveway, my crutches and my damned knee pissing me off to no end. I was on the verge of throwing the crutches away, but I wasn't at my stupid angry yet. With a deep sigh, I started down the short trip to the bus stop behind the Chilliwack High School.

"At least school will be the same," I said to myself rounding the corner of a side street. I often took this detour to avoid the main roads and enjoy the scenery of well-kept houses and yards.

When I got to the bus stop, I wasn't surprised in the least to find myself alone there. I had woken up considerably early today, so I didn't expect anyone to show up for at least half an hour from now. So, with that, I dropped down to the pavement, leaning against the small building behind me, and rested my injured knee, my crutches waiting obediently beside me.

Not too long later, a somewhat familiar green van pulled up, and out came Liam Midzain, another student from Chilliwack going to Sardis Senior for French Immersion. Frenchies, we called ourselves, I remembered.

He turned around after the van left and glanced at me, the did a double take as he realised it was _me_ he was looking at.

"Ian?" he asked incredulously as he approached me. "I thought you were in a coma at the Vancouver Hospital!"

I nodded, pushing my almost dry hair behind my ears. "I was," I said with a smile, dragging myself back up to my feet. He extended a hand for help, and I took it with gratitude, my crutches coming right back under my armpits. "I left yesterday though, and I didn't want to stay home."

His eyes were still wide with shock; his attention stuck around my face. "What happened to you?" he asked. "We heard strange stories, but none of them made any sense!"

I sighed, still not planning on telling anyone about the Digital World. "While I was in a coma, it appears these wounds started appearing on me." I remembered that I had cuts on my face from in the Gates of Fire. "Broken nose, broken ankle, pinched ligament in my shoulder, fractured kneecap," I started listing them off on my fingers, Liam's face filling with more and more shock as I continued. "…And I guess random cuts and bruises everywhere too."

"H… h-how is that possible?" he asked in shock.

I shook my head. Liam had been a good friend to talk to, but not nearly a good enough friend to tell such a secret to. Besides, he was one of the sane ones who would think I was crazy anyway. "I don't know," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

Just then a white car pulled up, and out stepped Danene, her younger sister and her young brother. She clued in far faster than Liam had, and I had to repeat myself once more for her. She, like all my friends who came to this stop, was another French Immersion student. Her siblings, however, went to the Middle School just on the other side of the High School we were standing by.

When Taylor came up in the red Jeep, I just stopped repeating myself, telling him that I would tell everyone when they were all here, or when the bus came.

Ten minutes later, with a crowd of Liam, Danene, Taylor, Tyler, Josh, Joss and Quentin, I started on the story once more. Our bus pulled up early on, though, so I was cut out for a minute. As I got on, everyone on the bus noticed me, and I started to realise how strange I must've looked, and how far the rumours had really stretched. Still, I ignored the other people and made my way to the back of the bus, being greeted by Taija, Brianne and an extremely sleepy Tori. Brianne was the only one who wasn't a Frenchie in our part of the bus. I restarted the story once more, then finished to a barrage of questions.

Being in this world was pissing me off, but I was glad to have people to distract me from my dislike.

"Does it hurt?" Tori asked, pointing to the cuts on my face.

I guess they must've been pretty bad, because they all gasped when I shook my head. "I had forgotten about them until Liam pointed them out this morning," I said.

"That's incredible!" Tyler exclaimed, leaning over the seat in front of me.

It was then that I noticed that no matter how important I seemed to be to these people, I was still sitting alone in my seat. Everyone else except Taija and Tori had doubled up due to lack of space, but they were only like that because they preferred their space.

I was the talk of the bus until we got to the school, and I was bothered to see it crawling with kids already. Seeing people was so different now, as I was used to being the only human around for so long now. With a shake of my head, I gathered up my crutches and followed the line out the bus, finding going down the stairs far harder than going up.

As I stepped off the bus, I heard a gasp and a scream of shock as my friend Jaclyn came rushing up to me. "Ian!" she screamed, stopping in front of me, unsure if I was in a condition where hugging was okay.

"Hi," I said slowly. I had decided long ago that I would forget everything I left behind to stay in the Digital World with Guilmon, and I had been happy about it. Guilt started to sink in a bit as I looked at her worried eyes. With that, I balanced the crutches and hugged her.

She was far shorter than me, but it was always awkward for me. "You'll have to explain your… injuries," she said with hesitation.

"Can we wait until we find Caitlin?" I asked, preferring not to have to explain this so many times.

She nodded, looking at me with unease. I could tell that my current condition was bothering her, but she wasn't one to talk about such things.

We found Caitlin in her first block classroom, and she was so excited to see me that she didn't even bother to see if I was okay. She just hugged me, and I believe she started to cry.

To my surprise, I didn't even feel the slightest hint of guilt. I was off having the best time in my entire life for ages, while everyone else was worried sick about me. And I didn't seem to care. It seemed completely superficial of me to think, but Guilmon replaced even my strongest friends in this world. So, after she started to calm down a bit, I explained the story for the forth time this morning, and then the bell rang sending me off to my first class.

Throughout the rest of the day I not only had to relay the same story twelve more times, I also had to bear shocked expressions in the hallways, teachers and other adults demanding to find out what had happened to me, but the worst part of it all was being so handicapped that I couldn't be the same bustling person I was in the Digital World. That had been the second most excruciatingly painful parts of being back in this world: being changed back to the person I once was.

By the time the bus home rolled around, I was quite irritated; I was a boiling pot ready to boil over.

That's why what happened then happened at all.

I was waiting at the place where the bus stops, leaning against a tree, when my twin brother Robbie and some of his druggie friends came up to me.

"Dude," he said in his poser gangster accent, "my bro's wanna know what happened to yeh."

This was not what I wanted to do now, and even less for him and his friends. I simply sighed and ignored him.

"Ian!" he said loudly.

Still nothing forthcoming from me.

He roughly grabbed my good shoulder, pulling me around, and I was satisfied to see him recoil slightly from the anger that burned in my eyes.

Before he could even flinch, I balled my hand into a fist and slammed it into the centre of his face, a loud crack emitting from it. He howled in agony, falling to the ground, but I wasn't finished with him. Fifteen years of hatred were falling out of me in the form of fists barrelling into his gut, chest, and two more to his face. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME!" I screamed, blood from his nose spattering onto my fists. "I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DO AGAIN-" I stopped in mid-sentence as one of his cronies grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt, pulling me up to a standing position. I could tell he was going this for show, because his fist took a considerably long time to actually raise. I ducked under the blow easily, my hand darting for one of my crutches. I grasped it firmly in my hand and swung it as hard as I could, the solid metal colliding hard into his side.

In a manner of seven swings all five of them were on the ground, clutching at the places where I had hit them.

I shook the hair out of my face, spitting on the ground in front of them. "If you ever fucking touch me again," I said again, "you won't be getting up from the ground."

Kids everywhere were rushing up to see the massacre and two duties came tearing up to me, gasping in shock when they saw the bodies on the ground, writhing in pain. "What happened here?" one of them roared.

A random kid stepped in, one who I think takes my bus, and said, "he tried to ignore the first one, but then they ganged up on him. He beat the crap out of the first one, but got the rest down in no time."

The woman glared at me, her porky little eyes sweeping over me. She then returned her gaze to the five on the ground, including my brother, recognising them as troublemakers. "You can go," she snarled to me, storming off to get help.

Thankfully, the bus pulled up within the minute and I got on first, glancing back to Robbie on the ground. "See you at home," I said with a smirk.

"Where's Robbie?" my father asked as I got in the door. He didn't seem to want to bother me after how cut-throat I had been to him and his wife the previous day.

I shrugged innocently. "I don't know," I said. "He wasn't on the bus."

Later that night, Robbie did make it back home, and I simply loved his excuse for the broken nose and the bruises. "I was play fighting with some buds," he said quickly, seeing me watching him from the doorway. "It got out of hand a bit."

When he walked by me he kept his eyes low, not speaking a word. I felt four inches taller then.

Dinner came and went, but I simply pilfered some bread from the bread drawer and ate it outside in the sun, falling asleep in the fading light when the time came. The entire day I had been smothered with attention and I had done something so incredible that would be talked about for weeks at school, but I still felt nothing but loneliness. There was still an extremely noticeable empty feeling inside of me, and it only seemed to be getting bigger.

My hands tapped idly at the Crest of Life and my digivice, but I knew that it wouldn't do anything. "Guilmon," I whispered before falling asleep.

The next morning followed pretty much the same pattern as the previous one, and I soon found myself on the bus to school. There weren't as many people on the bus this day, but it wasn't uncommon. There was actually a great deal of more middle school students sitting at the front, and I had taken the seat somewhere in the middle.

When the bus made it to school (Robbie had decided to stay home today), I heard some ruckus from the front of the bus.

"There he is!" one of them jeered, pointing out the window at a small child with sandy blond hair. He was a popular looking student, definitely waiting for a transfer bus, but he was obviously apart from the rest of the students, many of whom were also pointing and laughing at him.

"Where's your little monster friend today?" another laughed. "Or did you imagine some other creature?"

The poor kid was tiny, probably came halfway up my torso, and he was on the verge of tears. I felt extreme sympathy for him, understanding his position better than most, for my childhood had been like that a lot too.

When we got off the bus, he looked like he was about to break down, and that's when I decided to help him.

Gathering as much force as I could, I pushed strongly through the small crowd, tripping some of the small kids with my crutches. Trying to put out as much fierceness as I had the day before when I scared even my own brother, I roared at them. "What the hell is wrong with all of you?"

Most of the kids quieted down immediately.

"Leave the poor kid alone!" I continued. "You're all late for your busses as it is, and if you don't scram now, you're going to be a lot later!"

I guess word of what I had done the day before had travelled quickly, and the crowd instantly dispersed. The school bell rang then too, and in seconds, there were only a few stray kids left outside.

I turned back to the small kid behind me, looking kindly down to him. A steady stream of tears was pouring from his eyes now, but I didn't think that they were from what the kids had been doing to him. "What's this all about?" I asked, my most calm demeanour taking over now. "Why are they all making fun of you?"

The kid was wearing baggy jeans, a white shirt, long-sleeved shirt with a green striped button-up tee overtop, and he had a black backpack on the ground in front of him. "It's because of yesterday," he sobbed, dropping to the ground in tears.


	2. Chapter 2

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Four

"Thank-you so much for helping me!" he said through his tears. He was sitting on his backpack, and he had just put his face in his hands.

My knee jerking out in pain, I sat down on the ground next to him, still slightly taller than him. "I'm glad that I could help you," I said, extending my hand. "My name's Ian."

He looked up, wiping his eyes with the cuff of his shirt. "I'm Joshua," he said, putting his small hand in mine and shaking it.

"Now again," I said, starting over. "How come those kids were making fun of you?"

He shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. "You won't believe me, and you'll make fun of me like everyone else!"

I sighed deeply, looking out to the empty loading zone. There were no busses left, but it didn't seem like we'd need one soon. Besides, the middle school was just a few minutes' walk away. "Trust me kid," I said. "If there's anyone who'll believe something crazy, it's me. Besides, even if I didn't believe you, do you think I'd make fun of you after what I just did?"

He shook his head, and it was then I realised how scrawny he was. He reminded me a lot of myself when I was about his age. "No, I guess not," he said. He sighed too, starting for a bit of a tale. "It was just yesterday," he started calmly, his voice still shaky from the fear he had just been experiencing. "I'm a normal kid; I play soccer after school, I do well in school, I have lots of friends, and I'm pretty much just average. Yesterday, though, something strange happened. I got off the bus in the morning, and I saw a strange… thing walking around by the trees over there." He pointed to the middle of the loading zone to a small area with benches and trees. "I didn't know what it was, really, but no one else seemed to see it. I ran over to it, calling out to it, but by the time I got there, it was gone. That's the first bit of the rumour that starting going around."

My mind clicked at what he was describing. "What did the thing look like?" I asked quickly.

He replied far faster than anyone who was remembering such a brief memory. "He's a bit higher than my knees, he's white with purplish dots on his back, and he has orange hair and long claws on his front legs."

My mind stopped dead as a memory of Gomamon clicked into my mind. _"There's no way," _I thought quickly. "Well, what happened then?"

He still seemed hesitant to continue, but he had already started, so I guess he figured there was no turning back. "I went to class, just down at Vedder," he said, diverting his eyes down to the ground. "And I saw him again, just walking outside the window. I didn't want to say anything, but he stopped and looked at me and smiled really wide! It was almost scary, but he seemed really happy to see me. I jumped up, pointing at him, but when I got everyone to look, he was already gone. From then, I didn't want to say any more about him."

"You mean you saw him more?" I asked, almost paranoid about it now.

"You'll never believe it," he said now, more incredulously rather than in doubt. "He showed up twice more during the day, and the second time I had just got off the bus home." I was hanging on his every word by this point. "I was just going to ignore him now, though, because of everyone making fun of me, but he started following me. Halfway home, I just stopped and faced him, and then he smiled again. 'What are you?' I asked him; it was getting kind of creepy now.

"He said his name was Gomamon," he went on.

I had to stop him here. "Where is he?" I demanded. "I know him! Maybe he can help me get back to the Digital World!"

The small boy seemed shocked now. "You know about the Digital World?"

"The doctors think I was in a coma for two months," I said quickly, trying to brush past this all as quickly as I could. "But I was actually in the Digital World. Don't worry about me thinking you're crazy, I know more about digimon than anyone on this planet!"

"Well," he said, getting excited now, "Gomamon is in my room right now! After we actually met, he seemed so eager to become friends with me – he has a personality like no one I've ever met!"

I remembered with happiness how eager Gomamon had been to meet more human children. It was also then that I remembered how I seemed to be the only one who could see Birdramon and Seadramon when I was on the Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver. I still couldn't figure that part out yet, but I was starting to sense a chance of getting back to what had become my real home. It was going to become another adventure for me. "I only knew Gomamon for two days, but he seemed like he really wanted to have a human child partner. He really wanted to be one of the chosen digimon."

Poor little Joshua was getting completely lost in the dust of information here, but he was trying really hard to understand it. "What do you…" he started.

"No, I'm sorry, this is way too far into it," I said. "What we have to figure out is simply the preliminary question: Are you willing to leave everything behind, possibly forever, for a life of adventure?"

He became instantly perplexed at the immensity of the question. "What are you talking about?" he asked slowly.

"You, because you are the only other one who can see Gomamon, means that you have been chosen for some reason to be what they call a digidestined child." I was trying to make this simple, realising that he was several years younger than me. "There is an entire other world out there called the Digital World, or the Digiworld as many of them call it; it's a world full of digimon like Gomamon. I spent almost three months in that world, and I was forced out of it in a way that – well, I didn't want to come home. Now, are you willing to take the chance to live an adventure unlike anything you've ever heard of and never come home?"

I was quite happy to see that his eyes were shining in delight. My first impression of this kid was that of one of the popular and cocky kids that strode through life without a care in the world, but now I was seeing a whole other side to him. "Is there a possibility of coming home?" he asked.

I nearly laughed. "Look at me. I'm here. But if I had my way, I wouldn't have come home."

He nodded with a small smile on his face. "A real adventure?" he asked. Then he started to see the injuries that I was bearing. "Will it hurt?"

There was hesitation now, a lack of sureness. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that you stay safe. I only got hurt because I didn't know what I was up against. But trust me, if you go to the Digital World, you will make such a strong friendship with the chosen digimon it will make everyone else you know seem, well, you'll make a lifelong friend. I know I did," I added with a faltering smile.

"How many digimon are there?" he asked, a new determination shining in his eyes.

"We'll talk about that later, but for now, every second counts," I said quickly. "We need to go and find Gomamon. He is our only key back to the Digital World."

The boy sighed. "If we walk, home is about an hour away," he said reluctantly.

"Well then, we'd better get going," I said briskly. "Which way?"

About an hour had passed when we came to a part of town I had never visited before. It was entirely houses, though, and the streets were rather pleasant. They weren't the best houses in Chilliwack, but they weren't slums. Some houses were certainly better cared for than others.

While we had been walking, I properly introduced myself and told him about everything I knew about the Digital World in the summarised version. I told him about the landscape, the digimon, and all the strange things that had occurred to me. He was paying rapt attention, and when I was finished the most simplified version of everything I knew, I got him to tell me about himself.

Turns out my initial deduction of him had been correct; Joshua was one of the popular kids in the school, just starting out in French Immersion, and he was also great in sports, specifically soccer. He had good grades, lots of friends, an overall cool kid. I really liked him. He was animated and had a good knowledge of the general world for one so young. He seemed like a happier version of me when I was young. But he also had his fantasies that he had to keep subdued from his friends, things like this whole digimon thing that he loved would dash his reputation, and by the looks of the way things were when we got off the bus, it had already happened.

We got to his house, but froze at the hedge by the driveway. There was a car parked in the driveway and the front door was open. "Mom's home," he said quietly.

My eager mind sprung into action, thinking of a way to figure this out. "Do you have a back door?" I asked quickly.

He nodded. "Yeah, it's usually unlocked."

"Okay, when your mom comes to the front door, go in and get Gomamon as fast as you can." I was quickly coming up with an excuse now. "Keep quiet, make sure Gomamon does too, and hide once you're out."

He nodded again, then hid behind the bush while I walked bravely up to the door. I had quickly taken a pad of paper and a pen from Joshua, and I was quickly wording my excuse. With a rushing heartbeat, I went up the steps to the door, now having mastered my crutches and stairs, and rang the doorbell.

A few seconds passed and then I heard footsteps at the door. A woman with blonde hair and a smart suit on appeared at the door. She looked busy, and also unimpressed seeing me there with my baggy pants, sandals, and white shirt that I had hastily tucked in. "Yes?" she asked.

In the corner of my eye I saw Joshua dart into the house.

"H-hi," I said with a bit of a stutter. "My name is Devon Goldsmith. I'm from the University College of the Fraser Valley, and a small group of students and I are working on a petition. Ma'am, do you know about the effects of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere?"

She seemed impatient with me, but she wasn't rude either so I knew she would give me a few minutes. "Yes, I've heard of them," she said quickly. She seemed more interested in how I got all my injuries rather than my fake issue.

"Well, my colleagues and I have been researching the matters and have found that there is a hole in our o-zone layer as bit as North America and as thick as Mt Everest is tall, and another hole as big as Australia somewhere over Russia. Ninety percent of the people in Vancouver were unaware of this, and we are conducting a study on Chilliwack. Did you know about the two holes?"

She shook her head quickly. "I'm actually on the fly," she said, starting to leave the doorway.

"I'll just be a minute!" I burst, seeing Joshua sneak by above her at the top of the stairs.

She sighed deeply, leaning back into the doorframe. "Go on."

"Well, our group has been speaking to the government here, seeing what plans of actions we as a city are doing to prevent this." I paused slightly as I saw Joshua carrying Gomamon in his arms at the top of the stairs. The little digimon spotted me and waved, but Joshua quickly clamped his hand down on the digimon's mouth, darting back down the hall towards the back door. "It turns out that the city of Chilliwack is doing next to nothing to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Would you, if the time arose, be willing to sign a petition to put our city into action about this atrocity?"

The woman glanced at her watch in anxiety. "I suppose so," she said.

"That's great!" I exclaimed seeing Joshua sneak up to the side of the house, waiting for me to be done. "Well, if you don't mind, I will record your address down for future references."

She sighed again. "No, not at all. Is that everything?"

"Yes, thank-you," I said, scribbling down her address onto the piece of paper. I then turned around and marched quickly down the steps.

She closed the door and I heard her busy footsteps disappearing into her house. Joshua dashed across the driveway and into the bushes while I kept a firm march to the end before joining him on the opposite side.

"Ian!" Gomamon shouted, jumping out at me. "What happened to you? What are you doing in the real world?"

I sighed, patting him on the head while Joshua looked at me in wonder. "My body in this world was brought back somehow and I woke up here." I hugged him as best I could with crutches still under my arms. "This is all from what happened to me when we went to the Gates of Fire. But that doesn't matter now; we have to get to the Digital World! How do we do it?"

He looked at me in confusion, returning to Joshua's arms. "I'm not too sure," he said. "I just know that I appeared here by some gross looking water at a bridge, and no one could see me."

"Well, where is this bridge?" I asked quickly.

"Its a few hours away, but I jumped onto one of those metal digimon things and rode it here. It didn't seem to mind." I assumed he was referring to cars, and the only water that I could think of was either the slough beside my house or the Fraser River at the other end of town.

"Which way did you come from?" I asked.

He put his nose in the air, sniffing around. I missed Guilmon even more now, remembering how he had done that so frequently. He pointed further away from my house, so I knew it must've been the Fraser. "That way," he said with sureness.

"Then that's where we're going!" Joshua said with a smile.

The walk took a bit longer than we had hoped, and it made me furious because it was my fault. My crutches were slowing me down, and I was desperately wishing that I was already back in the Digital World on a speedy recovery. Even if I was having a slow recovery, at least Guilmon was there to make me feel better, or just to help me become slightly more mobile.

The weather had deteriorated by then, and the wind had picked up a bit. Rain clouds appeared and a faint mist was coming down on us. It was overall rather gloomy weather, and quite depressing at that. If the three of us weren't so intent on getting into the Digital World, we probably would've been just as depressed. I smiled a bit more, the vision of my blood coated brother lying on the sidewalk beneath my barrelling fists coming back to me. It was then that I asked Gomamon an important question.

"Gomamon," I asked, "how did you get to this world anyway?"

He cocked his head in confusion, whether it was to the question or if he was thinking, it wasn't immediately clear. "Umm…" he started slowly.

I remembered asking Guilmon the same question finding that he didn't know the answer either. "I guess it doesn't matter," I said quickly before he thought too much about it. "I want to know how to get to the Digital World without ever having to come back."

Just then we found ourselves at the bridge overlooking a rainy golf course and a quick moving and muddy Fraser River. "What now?" Joshua asked, finding that we were no longer moving.

"We wait," Gomamon said simply.

"Here?" the boy asked, looking around at the traffic that passed us on the bridge.

"Yep," he replied, nodding.

"Is this a pattern?" I asked, realising that this was the second time I found myself waiting on a bridge to go to the Digiworld. "What is with these bridges?"

The two others looked at me in confusion, and I decided not to press it just yet. At least, not until I was safely back in the world I belonged in.

It was about five o'clock, about three hours later, and the rain had become quite serious. They were extremely thick bullets of rain, and we were drenched to the skin. I was starting to feel strangely comfortable in the rain, because I was open to the elements like in the Digiworld. I still shivered in the cold, and I knew the getting a cold was quite possible, but I also knew that it would probably be comfortably warm where we were going.

Joshua was shivering a lot more than I was, but Gomamon was already doing his best to take care of him. He had his large front legs wrapped around Joshua's shoulders, resting his head on one of them, and the rest of him was lying across his back. The three of us were sitting against the railing, trying to keep as far out of the rain as possible. The clouds were making everything very dark, and I was surprised that the weather had changed so viciously so late in the season. It was strange, but not impossible.

A large truck passed by, splashing over a deep and muddy puddle, and I quickly jumped in front of the water so it didn't get Joshua and Gomamon. The two of them gasped a bit, but I smiled weakly as the water trickled down my face.

That's when Gomamon started to act strangely. His pupils narrowed and his entire body became rigid. "It's almost time," he said, his head quivering. All of us stood up, looking at the small digimon intently.

"You sure you're ready?" I asked, looking at Joshua seriously.

He nodded with a huge smile. "I would say otherwise," he said briskly through a loud shiver.

_"This kid is so cool!" _I thought with a smile. "Where do we go?" I asked him.

"The water," Gomamon said, almost going crazy with his quivering. He wasn't cold, but this seemed more like feral instinct was taking over him.

"Off the bridge?" Joshua nearly cried.

Gomamon nodded, all forms of talking leaving him.

"We have to jump over then," I concluded, stepping up onto the first rail. "Come here," I said, brining Joshua up to me. I picked him up easily, finding him almost weightless in comparison to carrying Guilmon for an entire day. I stepped up another rail, swaying precariously over the edge.

"NOW!" Gomamon roared.

I jumped up onto the last rail, pushing fiercely off of the top rail, feeling almost suspended in air as we plummeted seventeen feet through the air. Pain exploded through my body, having ignored it as I dropped my crutches at the top, but the second I touched the water's surface, everything left me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Five

The first thing that I knew was intense pain. My knee and my shoulder were screaming in pain, immobilising everything from touch receptors to muscle movement. Somehow, though, I opened my eyes to find myself still drenched in water, but everything still seemed the same. I was lying on hard, flat ground, and it was dark and stormy above. The only real difference was the fact that Joshua and Gomamon were no longer with me.

Fear bolted through me as I saw the possibility that I didn't make it to the Digital World. _"Was I actually chosen to go back? Does it work that way at all? I can't possibly spend the rest of my life in my old world knowing that there's something infinitely better where I actually fit in… Oh Guilmon!"_

The pain was blinding as I forced myself to get up, but it was so rewarding. I was on the edge of a small rocky plain and unrecognisable, yet familiar trees surrounded the area. My heart leapt with joy and I continued forcing myself forwards to the trees, my mouth opening in a scream. "GUILMON!"

My voice echoed around me for quite some time, and I noticed the empty feeling inside of me again. _"That's it," _I discovered. _"That's what the Gates of Fire do. They took away his presence, literally taking away a part of me. I was the source of it all… but at least I'm not anymore!"_

"GUILMON!"

My legs collapsed beneath me, just as I got to the grass. There was nothing left in me right now. Maybe if it had been a bit warmer, maybe if I wasn't in so much pain, but there was nothing left in me to go forwards. Black dots appeared at the edges of my vision, but instead of fighting the inevitable, like I had before, I let it take me. I knew that there was nothing around for a while, and there was no way that I would be able to get anywhere before it got me anyway.

My face hit the grass and I dropped my eyelids back down.

_"I'm home."_

This time I wasn't in nearly as much pain when I woke up. Everything was different again, though. I was lying on a bed, but it wasn't anything like one of the hospital beds. It was big and soft, yet it didn't take away from the fact that I was intensely cold.

I moved a little, everything feeling fuzzy, when I realised that there was something leaning on top of me. My eyes cracked open a bit and I found myself looking into a set of heart warming amber eyes.

My heart skipped a beat, quickening its pace, and I instantly latched onto Guilmon's body. I felt his arms and legs wrap almost painfully tight around me, his tail flicking madly in happiness, and my hands found the small marks left in his back.

Tears poured out of my eyes as the empty feeling inside of me was filled once more. "Guilmon!" I sobbed, my head pressing hard into his neck. His body was warm, exceptionally because mine was so cold.

"Ian-mon!" he replied, the familiar nickname making me smile, if possible, even more than I already was. "What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry," I cried, never wanting to let go of him. "How long has it been?"

"Months have gone by here," he said through his own tears. "Everything has been going wrong! Our world is in chaos!"

I shook my head slowly. "It doesn't matter," I said through tears, "I'm home! Guilmon, it might as well have been months for me too! I've felt… empty without you." I felt like we could stay like this forever, ignoring everything else in the world as long as we had each other. I searched out warmth from him, my body still cold from the rain in both worlds. "Have you been safe?"

He had gone on alone for much longer than I did, and it was evident from his actions. He rubbed the side of his face against the back of my head, his arms still wrapped tightly around me. I sensed sadness from him, but like me, we were both getting better. "It's been difficult," he sighed, "everyone is scared. We're all expecting something to happen every night, and when it doesn't, we get even more scared. There's no defence against him, because he never attacks the same. And his minions…" He shuddered, squeezing me harder as he did.

I felt his cold tears running onto my back. The way he was talking about this evil – _"No! I sent him into the Gates of Fire!"_ "…Who?" I asked, very afraid of the answer.

"It took so much work to convince everyone otherwise," he said slowly, "and there's still so many people who think… well, they think…" A fresh set of tears seeped through his eyes.

"They think he's me," I gulped.

Guilmon loosened his grip on me, pulling back slightly so we were eye to eye. "How did you know?" he asked in a whisper.

My eyes couldn't keep with his. He had more right than anyone to know, but I was still hesitant. "When we were in the library in South Populous Beach, do you remember how the book said the Gates of Fire tore life out of its discoverer's being?"

His amber eyes shot open wide, the pupils becoming slits. "You don't mean…"

I nodded slowly, tears reaching my own eyes. I put my head under his, the side of my face feeling his warm, smooth chest. "I'm sorry!" I cried. "It's my fault that he's here! I should've known that there was only one way to really get rid of him! And now…"

Guilmon moved my head back upwards and rubbed his cheek against mine. He was still so much warmer than me, and I was getting worried about my physical condition. "You did everything you could and you know it. I would never have been okay with the alternative, and you should be even more aware of that." He held still, one of his hands coming up and warming the other side of my face. "You're still so cold!" he exclaimed.

"I'm getting better," I said quietly.

He tried warming me up more, both of his hands rifling up and down the sides of my arms. It made some difference, but not much. "I wish there was a fireplace here," he sighed, looking around.

"Where are we?" I asked, still not having actually looking past Guilmon yet. "How did you find me?"

"I knew the second that you entered this world that you were here," he replied, looking down at me. "When you called out to me, I could feel your presence even more. Thankfully I wasn't too far away, and a couple hours after you landed here, I found you. I saw your cast, realising that you still hadn't healed from the fall down the mountain. I picked you up, trying to keep your cast straight, and carried you to the first house I could find. This is some solitary digimon, Wizardmon, who lives out in the wilderness, thankfully. It was a stroke of luck finding it, because the next village could be hours away from here. He's not here right now, and I don't think that he'll be back for a few days."

I nodded slowly, my gratitude at this point being far beyond words. Visions of my old world skittered past my eyes and a fresh wave of tears came through. I hugged him again, still feeling terrible about breaking my promise to him. "I was s-so afraid," I stuttered, "I didn't know if I'd ever-"

Guilmon's hand covered my mouth to hush me. "It's okay," he said, consoling me. "We're together again, and that's what matters."

Agreement shortly followed. "I missed you so much," I said quietly, my arms wrapping back around his smooth back. "Everything seemed so wrong there – I was so angry for breaking my promise to you…"

Guilmon shook his head. "You didn't break it," he replied. "There is a firm difference between a promise breaking and breaking a promise. It couldn't have been helped from where we were."

Then I remembered Gomamon and Joshua. "There were two others," I said quickly. "Gomamon and another human child – did you see them?"

Guilmon back up once more looking at me with surprise. "Gomamon got into the real world?" he asked.

I nodded in response. "He's the one who helped me get back," I answered. "We came back with a kid about four years younger than me. His name is Joshua."

He shook his head. "I didn't see or smell anyone else," he said. "But remember how far apart we were when you first came here?"

A small smile spread across my face as I remembered the nasty little Pagumon who had so 'nicely' welcomed me to the Digital World. "Yeah," I said. "But that means that Joshua could be all alone in the here! We have to find him!"

Guilmon sighed, looking seriously at me. "Ian-mon, just look at you. You've got a cast on your knee, and your arm should be in a sling! You're in no condition to be out searching for some child."

"You forget," I retorted. "Not only did you carry me around full tilt in this same condition, but he's also a chosen digidestined! What do you think would happen if… _he_ found him?" I shuddered at the mere thought of it.

Guilmon sighed again. "I just… I just don't want to, to jump out into danger so quickly," he said hesitantly. "You just got back, and now we have to go out on a quest again?"

I grabbed my digivice and lifted the Crest of Life, showing them to him. "These aren't just toys," I said, not in the least surprised to find them back to normal. "We have a responsibility as digidestined and chosen digimon to help… well, you know… whatever it is Gennai wants us to do now."

Guilmon snorted. "Gennai?" he snapped, not towards me, but the name itself. "What good has he ever done us? He got you the Crest of Life, and nearly killed us because of it. Those portals could've taken us anywhere! We're lucky to still be alive!"

I sighed, completely agreeing with him. "But I did make a promise to Joshua that I would do everything I could to keep him safe…" I thought about it for a minute with Guilmon watching me intently. "I guess we should wait a little while anyway for me to heal a little bit. Besides, we haven't even got a clue as to where we should start looking."

Guilmon smiled vividly, hugging me once more before sitting up. "I'll go and get you some food," he said quickly, standing up from the bed. "And some material for a sling." He bolted out through a door, leaving me alone on the bed.

I looked around the room; it was a small room with only the bed, a closet, a dresser, two windows and the doorway. All the walls were a creamy white colour, while the door, closet, dresser and window frames were made of wood, coloured a light brown.

My smile was still plastered onto my face – the empty feeling was gone, I was back in the Digital World, but best of all I was back with Guilmon. A few moments passed and I heard him scampering back into the room with a plate of fruits and a long triangular scrap of fabric. He leapt back onto the bed putting the food on the floor next to us while he rolled the cloth into a better shape. With the utmost care he leaned over towards me, wrapping the cloth around the back of my neck. Then he pulled it around, turning it into a sling far faster than I could've. My arm twinged painfully at his touch, and the scrape on it cracked a bit, but in no time my arm was wrapped firmly in a sling.

"Thanks," I said quietly, annoyed at my own handicaps.

Guilmon seemed pleased about them, because I'm sure that he didn't want to go out and risk our lives for at least a little while. I suppose in the long run it would be a better idea – the two of us needed to spend some quiet time together after what seemed an eternity of being apart.

Then he picked up the plate of food from beside the bed and brought it in front of me. It didn't even bother me, how physically close we were to each other. In my old world I had never been comfortable with being too close to anyone including my best friends. Now though, it was as if all comfort zones had been abolished. He would be inches away from my face and it didn't feel in the least bit awkward.

"Did you want anything?" I asked, looking at all the food that had been piled up on the plate.

"I'll have a bit," he said, placing the plate on the bed between us. "But you must be starving."

I shook my head. "Eat what you want to," I said. "I'm not very hungry, and this is more than enough." I smiled wide again, then picked up a piece.

Soon the plate was empty and we were both sufficiently satiated. I had lain back down on the bed, feeling tired once again. Guilmon was quite happy; he placed the plate back down beside the table, then stretched out beside me, his head resting on my chest. "It's good to have you back, Ian-mon," he said.

"Good to be back, Guilmon," I replied.

Many hours later, I woke up from my nap, Guilmon still resting at my side. He was still half-asleep, and I smiled at how happy he looked. My hand reached out, gently patting his head. _"Digimon are such fascinating creatures," _I thought. _"They're just so different…" _My hands ran over his ears, so foreign in comparison to my own ears. _"I just hope… I hope that I never have to go back. If two days did that to me it makes me wonder what a lifetime could do."_

Guilmon smiled, his eyes opening up. "Good evening," he said quietly.

"Sleep well?" I asked.

He nodded gently, "I did. How about you?"

"I haven't had a nightmare since the Gates of Fire," I replied, smiling once more. "I've been sleeping extremely well since then."

Guilmon smiled back, then crawled up and hugged me again. "I'm just so happy that you're finally back!" he exclaimed.

I leaned up against the headboard, hugging him back. "I couldn't stand being alone for as long as I did," I said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't come any faster."

We lay there for a while, just listening to each other breathing. It was very comforting to be close to someone again – there wasn't anyone who could compare to Guilmon.

Later, after a long while, I roused myself. "Okay Guilmon," I said briskly. "We need to get some fresh air. Let's at the very least go for a walk."

Guilmon sighed, not one hundred percent eager to start moving again. But he quickly shook his head, thoroughly waking himself, then he stood up. "You're right," he said. "We have been cooped up too long." He extended his hand to me, helping me to the edge of the bed and up onto my good leg, him holding me up on the opposite side.

"_This is what people should have when they're injured," _I thought happily as Guilmon's shoulder went under mine for support. _"Best friends – my old world just sucks in comparison." _My arm went around Guilmon's shoulders and together we walked out the doorway.

Outside the bedroom was only a small hallway with a kitchen and a washroom. I couldn't imagine what else would've been needed for a Wizardmon; but then again, this was the first digimon house that I had ever visited in the Digital World.

My mind drifted off towards the future, not only desperately hoping that I would have one here, but also that I would be able to have a proper home sometime. I imagined that the house would be more like something from the Forest City that we had visited directly before going to the Gates of Fire, but with a pang of regret I remembered that we were no longer welcome in that city.

When we reached the actual doorway, we stepped outside into a somewhat dense forest area. The trees were nothing compared to those in the Forest City, but they were surprisingly tall as far as trees go. I still had no idea what any of them were called, but they were familiar – something that I was enjoying feeling now that I was back.

"Where would you like to go?" Guilmon asked, looking around the damp forest. It was getting a bit dark out, and it was still quite moist from the rainfall before, but it was nice out.

"Can we just wander?" I asked, not having the slightest clue where we were in the Digiworld.

"Sounds good," Guilmon said.

We started forwards into the woods, the damp grass immediately soaking the cuffs of my pants, but I felt really comfortable having the dewy grass beneath my feet again.

The two of us walked for almost an hour, generally going forwards, and we soon found ourselves in near darkness.

"Guess it's time to head back," I said.

Guilmon nodded in agreement, and we started to turn back.

Quite some time later, we were almost back at the house, darkness had certainly fallen, when a terrific explosion knocked us both to the ground. I rolled onto my good side, away from Guilmon, and the trees around us wobbled dangerously. The moisture on the leaves shook off, soaking us, and then Guilmon started to scream in fear.

I looked up with a start to see a large tree falling down towards us, but by the time I had started to scramble away, it had landed directly between Guilmon and I.

"Guilmon!" I cried, trying desperately to get back up to my feet. "Are you okay?"

His head poked up from above the tree trunk. He seemed fine, and he immediately bolted to my side. "Are you okay?" he demanded, his eyes darting to my knee and my shoulder.

"I'm fine," I said, brushing it off. "What the heck was that?"

We both looked towards the house, gasping slightly when a plume of black smoke appeared above the canopy. "The house!" Guilmon exclaimed.

Guilmon scooped me up onto his back – I ignored the twinge of pain from my knee – and we moved as fast as we could to the house. He stopped suddenly as we got just to the trees skirting the house.

"Look at that," he whispered.

A shiver of fear ran down my back as I saw the great dragon digimon floating above the house. It was a long, black dragon with giant spiky wings. "What is it?" I asked in a voice as quiet as Guilmon's.

"That's Black Magnadramon," he replied. "But who's that on his back…?"

My skin boiled as I noticed what he was referring to.

A boy, my height and age, was standing on the monster's back. He was dressed entirely in black with a thick cape billowing around his back, he had long black hair - the same length as my own – and piercing grey eyes. I could see his eyes from the ground about a hundred feet below him, and he wasn't even close to happy. Beneath him were the remains of Wizardmon's house, engulfed in flame, creating the thick black smoke cloud above them.

His mouth moved, talking to the digimon, and I didn't even need to read his lips to know what he was saying.

"They're not here – we must've missed them. Back to the base then."

The monster swivelled around and it was just then that I noticed the crest and tag around the boy's neck. It was black and had a dark and eerie glow to it.

My hand wrapped tightly around Guilmon's in fear – I had been right. The darkness inside of me… it _was_ me. I turned to him as the giant monster flew away into the night. My mouth opened to talk, but Guilmon stopped me before I could.

"It's not you," he said quickly, knowing what I had been going to say. "No matter how much he looks like you, that could never be you. So you're not even allowed to think it, got it?"

My head drooped as he said that. I wanted him to be right so badly… "Thank-you," I said quietly.

He gently rearranged me on his back, then started back into the woods.


	4. Chapter 4

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Six

We had been walking for only a shot while when we stopped to sleep. There were no spots that were particularly better than others, but it was all simply just lying on the ground. We had decided against making a fire so we were considerably cold. Me, still cold from the time I woke up, I curled up into the smallest ball I could, trying as Guilmon had to me before to curl up into his lap. He was leaning against a tree, so he brought his knees up as much as he could, pressing me firmly against his warm chest. My bad knee twinged, but I managed to ignore it.

For a few minutes he rubbed his arms on my back and arms, trying to warm me up again, but to no avail. So, when he gave up on that, he wrapped his arms tightly around me, pressing me even further onto him, and rested his head on mine, his tail off to the side.

When all was quiet, I whispered to him, "thank-you."

It was pitch black out when I woke up. I couldn't find any reason to have awoken for a minute, but when I noticed how warm Guilmon seemed, I realised just how cold I was. My teeth were chattering and I was shivering so hard that I thought I was actually going to catch hypothermia.

Still wrapped tightly up within Guilmon's arms, I carefully pulled out my own arms and hugged him. "Guilmon," I whispered, pressing my cheek against his chest. "I'm so cold…"

I felt Guilmon move a bit, then he lifted his head up. "…Ian-mon?" he asked groggily. "Are you awake?"

My head still pressed hard into his chest, I nodded. "I'm sorry if I woke you," I said through chattering teeth, "I didn't mean to…"

His heart quickened as his hand darted to the side of my face, running carefully over it. "Ian-mon," he hissed in fear, "you're so cold! Are you okay?"

"I just feel… c-cold…" I said quietly, moving around slightly so my chest was against his. "I think I'll be f-fine…"

"You're shivering!" he exclaimed, trying to keep quiet because of the night. "Here…" He leaned back a bit, his large hands fumbling over the buttons on my shirt. When he was done, he put his arms under my shirt and around my torso. He pulled me close, my bare chest against his, and pressed his face against mine. "How are you so cold?" he asked in wonder and fear, "this isn't normal!"

A tear ran down my cheek, so of course he felt it, and immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, rubbing his arms around my back, still trying to get me warmer.

"I just got out of the hospital," I whispered sadly, "I don't want to have anything wrong with me!"

Guilmon gasped a little bit, then hugged me even tighter. "There's nothing wrong with you!" he exclaimed. "We'll get through this together! Just like we always do!" He wrapped his legs around me, drawing my own up against my chest. "Are you getting any warmer?"

I shook my head, trying to somehow sink deeper into him, pressing myself so hard against him. "No," I whispered. My voice was getting gradually quieter as time went on, and I was holding onto him like we were going to be separated again. "Guilmon, I love you…"

"Shh…" he cooed, trying to make me feel better. "You'll be okay."

I felt his warm breath on my face, but I was still cold, and I seemed to only be getting colder. "…Guilmon…" My knee was almost screaming in pain, but it was still nothing.

"I love you too, Ian-mon," he said softly.

My mind was fuzzy when the sun finally shone on the two of us. I was still cold, not any colder, but now that the sun was up I hoped to get warmed up from it. My knee, after an entire night of shifting back and forth was numb, much more comfortable than it had been before. We had tried to sleep, but it didn't seem to come to us. Sure, we rested, but sleep was always just escaping. Me because I was so cold, and Guilmon because he did not want to leave me alone.

"It's morning," Guilmon whispered into my ear.

I nodded, still firmly against him for warmth. "Thank-you for staying awake, Guilmon," I said quietly. My voice hadn't got any louder from the previous night.

"Well I wasn't just going to leave you there, all alone in the dark," he replied, his hand running reassuringly down my face. Then he stood up, holding me in his arms as he did so. "Let's get out in the sun," he suggested. "It'll be far warmer out there."

"Thanks again, Guilmon," I said, agreeing with him.

He pushed past some brush, working his way out to a small spacing in the trees where light shone down on the tall grass; the light was filtered from the leaves above us. "Now," he said, setting me down in the grass, "shall I go and get us some breakfast?"

I nodded slowly, a weak smile spreading across my face. He leaned down to brush my hair out of my face, then sauntered off into the woods to find some food. A few moments later, a cold chill ran through me. I didn't know if I was just getting colder, or if it was a premonition or something. Regardless, I was still painfully cold, so I curled up into a ball and wrapped my arms around me. (Well, the splint didn't do a very good job at it, but my arm didn't hurt.)

Visions of the frozen wasteland I had been teleported to darted through my mind, reminding me that I had been this cold before. I remembered how kind Wolfemon had been, yet how mysterious he still remained. There was something about him that he wasn't telling, and although I trusted him completely, it didn't stop me from wondering who he really must've been.

I shook myself out of my daydreams as a cool breeze came over me, chilling me even deeper. _"What is wrong with me? Why am I so cold? This doesn't make any sense… It's not like I caught hypothermia – besides, with Guilmon here I should be better than best!"_

A few moments later, Guilmon dashed back into the clearing, a small pile of fruit in his arms. "Good," he said, sitting down beside me. "We seem to get separated too often, so I was getting just a little worried." He smiled kindly at me, watching me intently for a reaction.

"Well, I d-don't want to go anywhere y-yet," I replied, smiling back.

He looked worried once again at the sound of my shivering, and he quickly placed the fruit to the ground and pulled me close to him. "I can't understand why you're so cold." He said sadly. "Do you want me to make a fire?"

I shook my head. "I don't think that that's a good idea anymore," I said slowly, "not w-with _him_ around…"

He looked into my eyes with extreme seriousness, holding me captive in the deep, amber pools. "Are you sure?" he asked firmly. "I don't want you getting any worse than you already are just so we can run around aimlessly looking for Gomamon and that Joshua. Your health is far more important than anything else right now."

"You're right," I said hesitantly, "b-but I don't want anything to happen to you either if _he _does find us because of a simple fire. I should know _him_ b-better than anyone anyway, and I if I do, then I'm sure that he'd see a f-fire, or at least be expecting one." I shuddered thinking about how recently the two of us had been one.

Guilmon noticed my unease and held me closer, his head resting on mine once more. "No matter how much he looks like you," he said slowly, "he is a different person. You are Ian-mon, and he never could be. Remember that."

I repositioned myself to get more comfortable. "Thanks Guilmon," I whispered.

An hour or so later we had finished breakfast and were walking on again. My knee had almost become nothing to me. I had been working extremely hard on ignoring the pain, and I was getting really good at it now. My shoulder didn't even feel bad now, but the sling must've been helping a lot.

We had no real direction to go, but Guilmon said that we were heading steadily north. It was a decent direction, and with no particular knowledge of the Digital World's geography, I had no objections. In fact, my mind returned to Wolfemon, and I wondered if there was a Trainmon that we could take. He had said that there were many of them, so maybe.

I voiced this idea to Guilmon, and it intrigued him. Of course he had heard of the Trainmon, but he had never been on them. "I don't know if there are any stations around, but I guess there could be if we went to a village somewhere."

"Well, do you know this area very well?" I asked. I hadn't got any warmer, but I was trying really hard not to stutter from the cold. Looking around, everything was set up completely differently than anything else I had seen in the Digital World.

Guilmon shook his head. "No, I don't think I've ever been here…" He seemed uncertain, and the way he eyes his surroundings it seemed like he was having a strange case of déjà vu.

"Are you sure, Guilmon?" I asked, following his gaze as best I could.

Again, he shook his head. "It's very strange," he said, trailing off. I didn't press this.

We continued on until midday when we decided to stop for some lunch. By then I was quite cold, and I was starting to feel a little bit light-headed. When we sat down, Guilmon went off quickly to grab some food, telling me to rest while he did.

I don't know what it was… I was lacking a lot of the energy that I usually had. Either way, I wasn't feeling lonely anymore and I was in the world that I belonged in. Guilmon came back in a few minutes and he had some more fruits with him. He sat down beside me, dropping them in front of us. Wrapping his arm around me, he asked, "are you feeling any better?"

I shook my head. "But I'm back here, and that's good enough to make me feel ecstatic." Then everything started to swivel around. It wasn't scary, just confusing. I shook my head, and everything was normal again.

Guilmon looked worriedly at me. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded, looking around with a confused expression. "Yeah… that was really strange…" I leaned down to grab a fruit, but as I did so, my vision slid completely out of focus and I crashed forwards into the ground. I remember Guilmon shouting my name before blackness.

"Ian-mon!" Guilmon shouted, holding firmly onto my shoulders. "Oh Ian-mon, wake up! IAN-MON!"

My eyes opened blearily, everything still seeming a little off. "G…Guilmon? What happened?"

"I think you fainted," he replied lightly, bringing my limp body close to his. We were sitting underneath a tree and Guilmon was leaning against it. He pulled me up into his lap, his arms wrapping around me. "We need to get you to a city," he said sadly. "You're not in good health."


	5. Chapter 5

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Seven

When I did wake up again, I was very confused. It was dark, and we were still moving, but I knew that we were no longer in the cart. My hands fumbled around blindly until I came across Guilmon's face, at which point I embraced him tightly.

He must've been sleeping, because he had to wake himself up too before he realised what was happening. "Ian-mon?" he asked blearily. "Are you all right?"

It was only then that I remembered being cold, and I found that I was still quite so. My head was also fuzzy feeling, but I didn't care. "I'm good enough for now," I replied quietly as Guilmon returned the hug. "Where are we? What's happening?"

"We're on a Trainmon, just like you suggested," he informed me. "After we got into Pumpkinmon's cart, he brought us to the town and took us to the train station. I guess it's really late right now… but we were so far away from any big enough civilisation! So I guess we're heading to a bigger one now. It won't be long now, I hope."

I nodded, finally making sense of things. "Are there no lights?" I asked.

"No, there are," he replied, "but I asked the Trainmon to turn them off so that you could sleep better. I guess I fell asleep too."

"Guilmon, I don't know how to thank-you," I said quietly.

He sighed briefly, then pulled me back a bit so we were looking into each other's eyes. "We're not keeping score, remember?" He sighed once more, pressing me to his chest and running his hand through my hair. "Even if we were, both of us would be so far into each other's debt… we'd have to work it off for eternity!"

"Thanks anyway," I said timidly.

Just then, a booming, jovial voice resonated throughout the cabin, startling both of us. "We'll be pulling into the next station in five minutes!" the voice called out. "Please make sure that you don't leave any belongings behind, and stay seated until I've come to a complete stop!"

When it was done, both of us were still tense, as if waiting for something else that would scare us. After a few seconds, we both calmed down and laughed quietly to ourselves.

As the Trainmon pulled to a stop, Guilmon slowly stood up. I was determined to stand too, and it only took a second before Guilmon realised that I wasn't going to change my mind. So instead of arguing any further, he helped me to my feet and supported me the same way when I had a hurt ankle.

Then the doors opened and we were introduced to an extremely busy city. And it was the middle of the night! As we stepped forwards, the doors behind us closed and the Trainmon zoomed off into the distance, leaving the two of us stranded in this metropolitan life. Digimon over every size, shape and colour tore up and down the streets, some with carts, some with wagons, and even a couple of cars! There wasn't a single building under ten stories high, at least, not anywhere in sight, and they all had the same uniform shape and colour of grey and brown. I looked around wildly, stopping when my head started to swim, but Guilmon quickly got us going. We took a few steps down towards the sidewalk when all of a sudden a small digimon pointed up at us – or rather, me – and screamed.

"It's the Dark One!" it screamed, instantly alerting the entire street.

Sheer pandemonium broke out then.

The same cry could be heard throughout the entire city, and while most of the digimon ran, some of the larger ones held their ground, glaring angrily at me.

"No!" Guilmon cried desperately, tears forming at his eyes. "It's not what you think!"

"So you decided to join the dark one?" a giant red and green dinosaur snarled. "I thought that you were a chosen digimon! Disgusting!" His mouth opened wide and a huge blast of red flames exploded out of them flying at an unbelievable speed towards us.

"NO!" Guilmon screamed, lunging to the side, dragging me with him as the humungous ball of fire exploded next to us.

"Get out of our city!" another digimon roared, a blast of blue energy soaring towards us.

Guilmon was nearly in tears now while I was just petrified, and he kept evading the attacks, pulling me along with him. "No!" he cried again. "You don't understand!" He leapt again as a ball of black energy crashed where we had been not seconds before.

I couldn't even register where the voices were coming from now, so I simply clung to Guilmon in fear. "We understand perfectly!" one of them roared. "Get out of here!"

Another blast of energy, this time a few boards of wood slammed into Guilmon and I, smacking us hard to the ground below the steps. We both lay on the road now, and I looked up in tears as giant black figures towered over us. I latched onto Guilmon who didn't seem to be trying to escape anymore, and cried into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Guilmon," I sobbed.

"It's not your fault, Ian-mon," he said quietly, his voice now void of emotion.

"WAIT!"  
Everything seemed to stop as a set of footsteps ran up to meet us. "So you're protecting the Dark One too, Gabumon?"

My heart leapt as I heard this name come up. _Gabumon?_

"I despise the Dark One as much as all of you do," he snarled, the steps coming to a halt beside me. I still didn't have the courage to look up yet. "But this creature here is a good friend of mine. This is the Chosen Digidestined Child of our era."

The next few seconds were dedicated entirely to gasps. Many of the big digimon took several steps back. They were obviously speechless, for no words were forthcoming.

I felt Gabumon's hand on my shoulder, causing me to flinch slightly, but I quickly looked up to see his smiling face looking down on me. Guilmon twisted over onto his side, also looking up at his old friend. "Are you both all right?" he asked.

A cool night breeze picked up and I started shivering again, alerting Guilmon. "No," Guilmon replied, scrabbling to his feet, picking me up beside him. We both had a few scrapes and bruises now, the wound on my shoulder was bleeding again, and now my knee was throbbing violently with pain.

His eyes opened wide in surprise at the statement. "What ails you?" he asked quickly.

"We don't know," Guilmon replied, speaking on my behalf. "Ever since he got back to the Digiworld he's been unimaginably cold, and nothing we can do can warm him up. Every day that he's been here he's been getting colder and colder."

"You need to get to a hospital then!" Gabumon exclaimed, looking up to the giants around us. "Which way to the nearest hospital?" he demanded.

Within the hour I was brought into a hospital, put onto a comfortable bed in a small, wood coloured room and given immediate attention by doctors. Everything was a blur to me, as my head started swimming again the second we headed towards the hospital.

Then a small fire was lit in a wood stove at the foot of the bed, almost instantly warming the room. I shivered away, my shoulder still hurting and my knee in a state of numbness. I had been given a thermometer , and I don't even remember what the result had been, just that it had shocked the doctors and induced them into bringing another wooden stove into the room.

Guilmon hadn't left my side for a second, and when things had started to calm down, he lay down on the bed next to me, making sure that the sheets were pulled snugly up to my chin.

There were still doctors in the room, all talking away at top speed, so I didn't understand a word that was being said. But, for the first time since getting back to the Digital World, I was getting warmer. I still shivered, but it wasn't as bad.

Everything was quiet for a moment, but then I heard Guilmon talking to me. "Are you feeling better, Ian-mon?" he asked quietly.

A smile spread across my face and I nodded. "Much better," I replied, equally as quiet.

"Okay, because the doctors need to but a cast on your knee," he said, sitting up.

I registered the comment, but I didn't know how to reply to it. After a moment I nodded, and then Guilmon got up and sat down in a chair next to the bed. I realised then that I was able to think clearly now, and I watched intently as three doctors strolled into the room. The first one came and stood next to me, opposite from Guilmon and said, "now, this is going to hurt a lot, but it wouldn't be safe at this point to sedate you. Are you okay with that?"

I nodded lightly, and as the other two doctors moved around my knee, I looked away in fear. When Guilmon grabbed my hand for reassurance, I clenched it tightly. I felt a pair of hands on my leg, then unbearable pain as my leg was moved up into a ninety degree angle. A scream tore from my mouth, and I tried really hard not to squeeze Guilmon's hand too hard.

About an hour later, after many more screams of pain, my knee was neatly bandaged up; the old cast had been long forgotten. They had also wrapped proper bandages around my shoulder, and from what I glimpsed of it, I knew that there would be serious scarring.

My knee had only a couple degrees of motion to it, but if I dared go even a single degree, it was another case of searing pain. It had been better when I was cold, at least, it had felt better. Bad condition numb was better than good condition pain… in my mind at least.

When it was all done, Guilmon helped pull the sheets back up over me, then lay down on the bed, wrapping his arm over me. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

I was still quivering from all the pain the cast had induced, but I was getting better. My shivering had stopped over the hour, and the stoves were still burning strong, and although I was still a bit cold, I wasn't _cold_ cold anymore. I rolled over a bit, holding Guilmon tight. "I am…" I replied quietly. "Thank-you for being there and putting up with me."

Guilmon sighed, but shook it off and let a smile break out on his face. "I wouldn't have had it any other way."

Morning broke through the windows, and the hustle and bustle of busy city life dragged both Guilmon and I out of sleep. I groaned in annoyance – ever since the Gates of Fire, I had started to enjoy sleep again.

As I struggled to get out from underneath the numerous covers, I realised that I was feeling better. My knee and shoulder were still bad, but I wasn't cold anymore. The wood stoves had long burned out, but I was still warm. When I told Guilmon, he smiled and said, "Well, I guess it's time to go and get something to eat then."

I returned the smile, accepting his outstretched hand as he helped me out of the bed. We left the hospital, quite glad for the elevators – stairs would've been murder – and looked around for a restaurant.

I assumed that news of my arrival had been smoothed out throughout the entire town, for there wasn't a single person out there who wasn't happy to see me. It wasn't long before I saw the front page of the day's newspaper with my picture all over it. Above it were the words, "Horrifying truth revealed – near fatal misunderstanding." No one had asked about who they had now dubbed, 'The Dark One,' and I was quite glad for that. I didn't want to know how media would react to know that the darkness I was here to vanquish was the same darkness that I had brought with me.

When Guilmon and I were seated in the restaurant (the staff had refused to let a crowd gather around our table – that I was kind of glad of) I started talking.

"I just don't understand how he got out of the Gates of Fire," I said quietly. We had already been banished from a city for just claiming to go to the place. "I thought that once that was done that we'd be over and through with him."

Guilmon sighed from the opposite side of the table, looking down at the cutlery below him. "I don't know, Ian-mon," he said slowly. "And I'm quite sure that there's only one person in this world who does…" It was inescapably obvious who he was talking about.

"What scares me even more," I started, "is what…"

My mind came to a halt.

A look of puzzlement appeared on Guilmon's face. "What?"

I took a deep breath before continuing. "Can I kill him? Even if I could though… would I? He said it before that I don't have the guts to do it…"

Guilmon was stunned. "I think we can face that when it comes along. You survived independently after the Gates of Fire, even when you went to another world, so how necessary could his existence be to your life?"

"But that was before," I went on. "What Gennai said about my digital self and my human self… What if he's a crucial factor of my existence here?" I put my face in my hands, trying to come to a reasonable conclusion. I looked up when Guilmon took one of my hands in his own.

"It doesn't matter," he said, "because I won't let you go."

Just then a waiter showed up next to us with two plates of steaming hot breakfast. We accepted them with many thanks, then even more when he said that the meal and all possible others would be a gift from the chef and the entire restaurant establishment. Both of us had completely given up on arguing these types of gifts, so instead we just continued on with our thanks.

When the meal was done, we were both smiling in content; the two of us were quite full. It seemed to be an uncommon feeling in this world for the two of us. We were about to get up to leave when Gabumon exploded into the restaurant, a small parcel in his hands. I didn't even need to look at the black paper to know that it was from _him_.

"This parcel arrived for you just a few minutes ago!" Gabumon stammered between breaths. "I think it's from…"

I nodded, taking the package from him.

"Careful!" Guilmon exclaimed as I worked through the paper. "It might be a trap!"

I shook my head. "He knows we're smarter than that," I replied, the rest of the paper falling to the table.

Both digimon leaned in to look at what it was.

I gasped.

They gasped.

It was a small metallic box with a monitor on it, and on the monitor was a dark image of Joshua and Gomamon, both tied up in thick chains. They both seemed to be unconscious, but they must've been okay, otherwise they wouldn't need to be chained up. I watched in terror as the shot zoomed out a bit, then of all the things that could've happened, _he_ stepped into the frame, obstructing our view of Joshua and Gomamon.

What scared me even more was that his eyes were locked onto mine.

"So you crawled your way back into the Digital World," he said with a sneer. "I must admit I was surprised you wormed your way back here."

"What do you want with them?" I demanded roughly, my knuckles white from grasping the monitor so hard. "They're not important to you!"

He wagged his finger in front of the screen, taunting me. "Ah, ah, ah, we mustn't _lose our temper_," he said, referring to what happened in the Gates of Fire. "And you're right, they're not important to me. They're chained up nice and tight, and I don't think that they're planning on escaping anytime soon."

"So let them go!" I roared, startling many of the other digimon in the restaurant.

He rolled his grey eyes, then looked back to me. "Don't be so stupid!" he exclaimed. "If I did that, how would I get you here?"

Guilmon gripped my arm in fear.

I was silent for a minute before I said, "where?" My voice was deathly quiet, but only because I would've been screaming in anger otherwise.

"It's a certain mountain," he said calmly. "Your digimon knows it quite well. You'll find me there – and if you don't within the next forty-eight hours, you'll get to know that you were responsible for the death of a Digidestined Child and his digimon."

With that, the screen went black.

As I started to put it down, a crack appeared across the monitor from how hard I was holding it.

With a quiet thank-you to the waiter, Guilmon and Gabumon led me out of the restaurant, the monitor left far behind. After a few minutes, Guilmon timidly asked me, "so what are we going to do?"

I was still fuming, so when I replied, I was far snappier than I would've wanted. "Well we don't really have a choice do we? I mean, it's not like we can leave them – he doesn't make hollow threats!"

Guilmon patted my back gently, trying to calm me down. "Then we'll go," he said quietly.

My mind reeled off to the mountain that had been referred to; it was the mountain that Guilmon had appeared in when I first came to the Digital World. _"I still don't know what was in the mountain… but last time I asked Guilmon about it, he freaked! At least now we can expect something…"_

"You can take the Trainmon most of the way there," Gabumon said. "You'll be there by tomorrow afternoon then."

I sighed angrily, quite bothered by our predicament. "I guess we'll have to leave now then!" I snapped.

Guilmon fliched a little at my raised voice, and I instantly noticed how I was acting.

"I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, very ashamed of myself. "I'm acting like a jerk."

"It's okay..." Guilmon said in a hush, "under the circumstances..."

"No it's not okay," I said firmly. "I'm sorry. It shouldn't matter what the circumstances are; there's no excuse for me to be such an ass, especially to you."

Guilmon patted my back again. "I forgive you."

The Trainmon ride was long. The food trolley had come by a few times, so Guilmon and I were both given proper meals at the designated times, and when night time had rolled along, I stretched out as best I could with the cast on my knee, and Guilmon laid down across my lap, his head resting on my chest.

I was very comfortable, despite my cast, and I was soon drifting off to sleep too.

When morning rolled around, Guilmon and I promptly slept through it. I had a few moments of wakefulness, but it didn't take long for the gentle sway of the Trainmon to put me back into slumber.

It was the lunch trolley that eventually woke us. Our compartment door opened up with a rattle, and we quickly picked out some sandwiches and let the trolley keep on it's way. Halfway through eating them, the Trainmon's voice came through the speakers. This one wasn't nearly as surprising as the last Trainmon we had been on; this one was deep, calm and resonating. "We will be coming to our stop in five minutes. Please remain seated until I have come to a complete stop. Thank-you."

The two of us quickly finished our sandwiches, then waited patiently for the screeching of the Trainmon's breaks.

When it stopped, we both walked over to the exit, and the doors slid easily open.

We both had to squint from the light that seeped through the doors, and the sight before us was comfortably familiar. The trees were identical the the trees that I had seen from when I first entered the Digital World. The ground, the sky, the smell, the mountains... they were all the same. It was a first for me to be in a place that wasn't completely new to me. Sure, things had been similar, but it wasn't the same. I felt more... at home.

Walking out into the sunlight was one of the most refreshing things to me. There was a slight breeze, a very comfortable breeze, and the grass beneath my feet was so nice. Like before, as soon as we left the Trainmon, it sped off into the distance without another word.

To my great pleasure, we soon found ourselves walking by familiar trails, and I swear it was as if Guilmon could almost smell the last time we went by. It was all very nice to remember the earlier days, back when I barely knew Guilmon, and he barely knew me, and we didn't have to worry about all of this world's problems which had so kindly put one hundred percent of their weight on our shoulders.

Then, like a memory from way farther back than it actually was, the river appeared. It was the river that Guilmon, Gabumon and I had stopped at, only a couple hours after I had seen Guilmon hurtling down the mountainside. My hand reached absentmindedly for the heel of my foot where I had slipped on a piece of broken glass in my old world; there was still a scar from it. Kind of something that would never let me forget the day I met Guilmon – the day my life changed forever.

"This place sure brings back a lot of memories, huh?" I said, spotting the tree I had put Guilmon down to clean his wounds.

Of course, Guilmon had been unconscious, so I didn't expect him to remember it. "Not really..." he said slowly, "... but I get this strange feeling that I've been here before."

I smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Let's stop for a break," I suggested, hobbling over to the tree. Guilmon smiled and we both sat down at the base of it, looking out across the river.

Not too far off we could see the foothills of the mountain, but I refused to try and see any further until I had to. My mind started to drift away as I leaned onto Guilmon's side, trying to imagine what kinds of responsibilities the previous digidestined had had. _Did they have to go through as much pain and suffering as we did? Did they have a chance to bond with their digimon, like Guilmon and I... Was it as hard for them to go home...? _I glanced up at Guilmon who was still staring out at the water. _I don't know how long I'd last if I had to go back again... And no matter how many times I said it, or how many I still will, I don't really know how to stay here anymore. I thought I had had it with the Trainmon, and even more when I made it out of the Gates of Fire... but apparently nothing was certain anymore. I don't care about the physics of this world, I don't care about the rules, I hardly care about the geography... I just care about staying here. _Sadness started to well up in me. _I never want to go back... but how can I make that reality? No matter how much I wanted it, I still was forced back there! I broke my promise – no, my promise to Guilmon was broken, and... and... _I embraced Guilmon softly, my head resting on his chest. This surprised him a bit, but he put his arms around me too. _I love everything about this world... especially Guilmon, and though I don't know how, I am going to find a way to stay here. _

"What's on your mind?" he asked lightly, looking down at me.

"It seems like the whole world," I replied, trying to forget everything else but the here and now.

"I guess that's kind of what it is, isn't it?" He smiled, rubbing my back gently.

I listened contently to the beating of Guilmon's heart, the breeze playing gently with my hair. _"If it weren't for _him_... this could easily be the best moment of my life. Oh Guilmon..._

"I think we'd better get going now," he said quietly, helping me up from the ground.

"Can't we just stay for a few more minutes?" I begged.

His golden-amber eyes came to rest on my water blue ones. With a sigh he said, "no, Ian-mon, I know you don't really want that. Not yet. Let's just get a drink of water, okay?"

I too sighed; I knew he was right. "Okay," I replied. As soon as we got up from drinking, I stopped, looking back to him.

Startling him, I hugged him tightly, pressing the side of my face into his shoulder. "What is it, Ian-mon?" he asked, almost worried.

Slowly, I shook my head. "I love you, Guilmon," I said quietly. "I love you so much it almost hurts... I'm just so scared of what could happen up there..."

He exhaled deeply, holding me. "No matter what happens, you will always be my Ian-mon, and nothing in the world could change that. Remember that." His hand ran through my hair, petting me. "I love you too."

The dark mountain loomed over the two of us, casting a cold, dark shadow over the two of us. It was far worse than it should've been, and I could practically feel the evil that resonated through the air, chilling us thoroughly. There were thick, black clouds around the top of the mountain, and I almost felt the need to compliment my dark counterpart at getting the evil villain lair down perfectly.

"Wow..." Guilmon uttered, looking almost straight up to see the top.

"I know," I agreed, following his gaze.

Then we both saw the hole in the mountain, the same one that Guilmon had been smashed through on my second day in the Digital World. Darkness was practically seeping out of it, straining valiantly against the sunlight to escape out to the rest of the world.

_Good. It just goes to show that the darkness can't actually press the sun back. _

Guilmon gripped my hand tightly, and when I looked to him, his pupils were back to the size of pinpricks, quivering with intesity at the darkness from within the hole.

I jostled his shoulder, snapping him back into reality. "Hey," I said. "Calm down."

"I'm sorry," he said slowly, avoiding looking back at the darkness, "I don't know what came over me."

I shook my head slowly, then we started up the mountain.

It didn't take long before Guilmon scooped me up onto his back. The mountain had become perilously steep very quickly, and it would've taken me forever to hobble my way up, even with Guilmon's help. I held onto him tightly, definitely tighter than I normally would've. This evil presence was getting thicker with each solitary step, and Guilmon seemed to be the only thing that didn't feel evil. He tried to console me, but there wasn't much that he could do to push my fears aside.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the ground started to level out a bit.

We had reached the entrance to the mountain.


	6. Chapter 6

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Eight

Guilmon whimpered a bit, and I quickly slipped off his back, taking his hand in mine. "Come on Guilmon," I said, tugging him a bit. "This is just like that staircase to the Gates of Fire. If we don't do it, you'll always be scared of it."

He looked away from both me and the entrance, trying to avoid both our gazes.

A bit irrationally, I put my hands on either side of his face, twisting his head back to look at me. He didn't dare let his eyes leave mine. "Guilmon," I said firmly, my grip softening. I ran my hand across the side of his long cheek, letting both of my hands come to rest on his shoulders. "If it weren't for Gomamon and Joshua, I wouldn't be back here yet. I might never have come back at all if it weren't for them. Besides that, I made a promise to Joshua that I would do everything in my power to keep him safe, to keep him out of harm's way, and yet he still got captured by the one who is essentially me! Now, I'm going into the mountain whether or not it's dark and scary, and whether or not I know that there's something in there that's likely going to want to kill me. I can do this with or without you, Guilmon."

His expression softened, and then his gaze dropped to the ground. "I won't let you go alone," he sighed.

"Oh, Guilmon," I said quietly, regret seeping into my voice, "I just don't want either of us to be faced with the guilt of not going after Joshua and Gomamon. It's the right thing to do. It would be the right thing to do if _he_ had captured anyone." I hugged him, rubbing his back as I did so. "We're far ahead of the time limit, do you want to wait for a while?"

He slowly shook his head. I could see how much he didn't want to do this. "No, we should go now."

Sadness was filling up in me for making him do this. I hugged him again, "I'm so sorry," I said quietly, trying not to cry. "I don't want to do this either... but what other choice do we have? I have to go, and you don't want me to go alone..."

Guilmon shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "Let's just go and get this over with."

I squeezed him tightly for a moment, trying to reassure him. "This is something that I will need to repay you for," I said in a tone that wouldn't be argued with.

Guilmon shuddered a bit in fear, then we started off into the darkness.

We had barely stepped into the cave when the darkness swooped over us, throwing us into pitch blackness. When we looked back, we could no longer see outside the cave; heck, we couldn't even see our own hands anymore.

I felt Guilmon tremble in fear, and as we took more stepts into the darkness, he latched tight onto my arm that lay over his shoulder. There was no way that we could stop now, and we certainly weren't going to let go of each other for even a second.

From then on, time might've just as well been standing still. Our pace was painfully slow, but I knew that it wouldn't matter anyway. It's not like we knew which direction to go.

At the very least, hours dragged by. We both got hungry soon, but we quickly put ourselves into the 'fasting' mode.

The ground beneath our feet was solid stone. Some parts were smooth, some parts were sharp and jagged, but either way, we pessed onwards.

Guilmon had been right when he talked about this place before. There was certainly no way that we would be able to sleep in here, even if _he_ hadn't been near. Sleep pulled at our eyes, and by then we knew that it must've been night time. Still, though, we didn't stop. Both of us were glad that we had stopped for a break at the river, otherwise we would've been crawling by now.

Guilmon hadn't got much better, and if anything, I was getting to be near the same state as him. The darkness had quickly reached out to me, encasing me in a ball of fear. If it hadn't been for Guilmon, I know I would've been broken now.

Finally, things started to change a bit.

Far, far, far into the distance a pinprick of light appeared. It looked like a star in the night sky... or at least sort of.

When we both saw it, hope started to fill us. There was only one thing that it could be, but it had to be better than this constant darkness. We ran to it, or at least, we went as fast as we could. I wasn't going to let Guilmon carry me now, because if he did he surely wouldn't have been able to hold his own spot in battle... if that's what was to arise.

Another hour or so passed, and the light was only what seemed to be a kilometre off. We slowed our pace back down to a walk, making sure that we were as rejuvinated as we could get before we got there.

Then, right when the light was only a short ways off, a HUGE black digimon with six glowing red eyes appeared before us.

Guilmon and I yelped in fear, and Guilmon instantly moved in front of me. I was still holding onto him, and it was obvious that he had no intentions of letting me go either. "What do you want?" Guilmon demanded, looking high up to the digimon's eyes.

I couldn't tell if it was even looking at us. It had four small black wings and long arms that draped down to the ground. "You shall not pass," it groaned, looking down at us. It was easily twenty feet tall.

I leaned over Guilmon's shoulder and put my mouth near his ear. "Is what attacked you before?" I asked in a barely audible whisper.

He shook his head quickly. "Why not?" he demanded to the giant black digimon.

"The dark one waits for you," it replied, its voice getting gravelier with each syllable. He lifted one of his giant hands and pointed to his right.

I gulped in fear, and Guilmon followed suit.

"How far is it?" Guilmon asked.

"Just as far as the light," it replied.

Guilmon and I both looked with longing at the light just over his shoulder. It was so close... and so much better than more darkness. Then a thought came to my head. "Guilmon," I whispered, leaning close to his ear again. "He wants us to go for the light. It's a trap."

"So what do we do?" Guilmon asked, just as quiet.

"We go to the darkness."

Guilmon gulped loudly again, then the two of us trudged in the direction the digimon was pointing. We had barely taken a few steps before a giant metal door appeared through the darkness. With a shrug, I reached out to the handle on the door, shuddering when I felt how cold it was. As I started to pull at it, I found it far too heavy for me to open alone.

I didn't need to say a word. Guilmon reached out too, both of us still saving a hand to hold onto the other one's. We pulled, leaning back as hard as we could, and then the door creacked open, swinging easily once it budged the first inch.

We couldn't see anything through the door, but we still stepped forwards through the doorway. Once we got to the opposite side, we jumped a bit as the door creaked again, then slammed shut.

The second the door closed, there was a loud click of a lock, and then light flooded in.

We were standing in a huge, grey concrete room. Before us was a swivel chair that sat before about twenty monitors of all size. Each of these monitors had a different stream on it, and it seemed like they were keeping tabs on the cities in the Digital World.

There were tables and bookcases spread throughout the room, but I didn't have long to look before my attention was dragged back to the chair. It started to turn around, and I nearly fell down when I saw who was sitting in it.

"So," he said, his voice and face both void of emotion. There was no longer a cloud of blackness surrounding him, but I assumed that that was because it was only in my dreams. "You managed to stay on course. I guess you really want to save that pathetic human and his little rookie digimon. Either that or you're just too weak to think for yourselves anymore."

Guilmon had crouched over a bit, baring his teeth. I put my hand on his shoulder, looking up at the monster with anger written all over my face. "Where are they?" I demanded firmly.

He sighed, then pointed to his biggest screen. "They're alive," he said slowly. The monitor showed the two of them tied up in chains, but they were now hanging from a single chain, and it looked like they were hanging over a pit of pure darkness. They were obviously outside. "But for how long depends on you."

Confusion flitted across my face. "What do you want?" I asked.

"I want your crest," he replied, a smile coming across his face.

Guilmon started, standing back up and looking at me. "But that's what makes everyone digivolve!" he exclaimed quietly. "He could-"

"I could make any digimon I wanted to digivolve," he finished. "For a dumb lizard you made that connection quickly."

"Leave him alone," I said. "You don't have to bother him, just me, remember?"

"But I get the same results, don't I?" he asked, a sneer passing his face.

"I want to see them," I said. "Not on a monitor, but in real life."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you do," he said, turning around and pressing a button on a big keyboard. A loud whirring came, and the wall opposite from us started to lower.

I watched in shock as the wall disappeared, revealing the open night sky, and the chain that had both Joshua and Gomamon suspended about ten feet out. When the wall was completely down, they spotted us and started struggling. "Ian!" Joshua screamed. "Help us! We thought he was you, and then he captured us!"

"He's working on it," the Dark One snarled.

I had a million questions whirring through my mind, but I knew from experience that he wouldn't waste time answering all of them. "Let them go, then I'll give you the Crest."

A loud laugh exploded from his mouth, then he said, "I don't think so. It doesn't work like that. How about I bring them closer, then you give me the Crest?"

He wasn't the bargaining type, so I didn't really have many options. "Fine," I replied.

Guilmon looked at me in shock. "You can't do that!" he exclaimed wildly. "You'd be giving him one of the strongest powers in the Digital World!"

I turned around, my back to the Dark One, and I took him by the shoulders. "Guilmon, by leaving him with Joshua and Gomamon, that'd be an even bigger power." I paused for a moment, my mouth forming the words 'pyro sphere the computer.' "I have to do this, do you understand?"

His eyes were wide with shock from both what I said and what I didn't say. He nodded slowly, then I turned back to face _him_. "Sorry about that. Now, bring them closer." I reached into my shirt, then pulled out my Tag and Crest.

His eyes glowed maliciously at the sight of it. Then he walked back to the computer and pressed two more buttons. Another whirring sound came, then I turned to see them come much closer. They were only five feet out now. _Perfect._

I turned back to face him, my Tag and Crest in my hand. He came towards me, almost jittering with anticipation. As soon as he came a few feet away from me, I looked to Guilmon, and he made the connection.

Unfortunately, the Dark One noticed this, and he started back. "No!" he shouted.

But it was too late.

Guilmon opened his mouth and shot a blast of fire at the keyboard, the whole thing exploding in seconds.

"YOU FOOL!" he roared, turning back to us.

I had time to smile before turning around, darting towards Joshua and Gomamon. Guilmon started after me, and we were much faster than my evil look-alike.

"STOP!" he screamed. There was a beeping sound, and the opposite walls seemed to collapse. The giant black digimon from earlier appeared, flying after us.

Panic taking over me, I reached the edge and lunged out into the open, latching onto Joshua and Gomamon's struggling forms. From our combined weight, the single chain snapped. I looked back to Guilmon, then screamed.

"GUILMON!"

He was getting ready to lunge after us, but the giant digimon was upon him. As the three of us plummeted down to the mountain, Guilmon's eyes widened in shock as the giant digimon grabbed him, but that was all I saw before trees rushed up to meet us.

But I couldn't worry about Guilmon right now. I had to get Joshua and his partner to safety. As we crashed through tree branches, I wrapped my arms around the other two, trying to protect them from harm.

When the ground finally met us, I landed on it on my back, the air whooshing out from my lungs. Without more than a second passing, I got back up with the other two in my arms, screaming in fear and shock.

"Ian!" Joshua cried. "Are you okay? What about Guilmon?"

I shook my head angrily, silencing him and Gomamon, then I ran down the mountain. These two, even with their combined weight, weighed next to nothing. "We have to get you two safe before I can worry about anything else!" I exclaimed, a few tears running down my face. "Guilmon will be safe for now."

I felt like all possible happiness had been torn from my heart. I was empty again, and I was now starting to fill up with passionate rage towards the Dark One.

The chains were hard on my body, but I managed to ignore them. If that weren't bad enough, I had to worry about my leg too. It had managed to go numb again after I landed, but it was still working now so I wasn't going to worry about it yet.

As I tumbled down the mountain, the two in my arms trying to keep as still as possible, I started to remember the dream I had had where Guilmon had been so horrifically mutilated.

"NO!" I screamed to the skies. "GUILMON!" I kept running though, away from the one person who I truly loved. The one person who could make me really happy, the one person who understood me, the one person who was perfect in every way.

Suddenly we were at level ground, and I quickly but carefully put the other two to the ground. As fast as I could, with trembling fingers, I unlocked the chains around the two of them and they fell to the ground. Then I ordered Joshua to get onto my back, and he promptly did so, no questions asked. Gomamon hopped onto Joshua, and then I started running.

Hours had passed, but I didn't stop running. I couldn't stop. If I did I knew I would turn back for Guilmon. Joshua and Gomamon, thankfully, had remained silent. I had cried a few times, but not out loud. I knew that he wouldn't be coming after me, but I couldn't risk anything else now. If I did, I wouldn't have anything else left to risk.

The moon was almost back at the horizon when I appeared at Gabumon's cave. Without words, I put Joshua and Gomamon back down on the ground, pushing them towards the cave.

My breath was long gone, and my leg was wobbling and I knew that now that I had stopped, the pain would kick in in a few moments. I gasped for air, and when Joshua turned back to say something, I wrenched out a few words. "Stay in the cave. Don't leave until I come for you. Fight back if I don't show you my Crest."

He seemed to notice that saying anything else would make me explode, so he nodded and disappeared into the cave, Gomamon long ahead of him.

I looked around, tears coming down my eyes already, then started limping up the mountain. It only took a few steps until pain rocketed through my leg, and I collapsed to the ground. I screamed out in pain, clutching desperately at my knee.

"GUILMON!" I cried, the empty feeling within me painfully obvious.

I let go of my leg, then grabbed at the ground, pulling myself up the mountain.

"...Guilmon."

My eyes slowly creaked open, not registering much. I felt like one giant bruise. _He needs me... he's in pain..._ My tail twitched in animosity, then I bolted awake. Regardless of the pain, I got up and found myself in a glass cage. It was like a giant cylinder, and I was far too confined within it.

"IAN-MON!" I screamed, my claws lashing out to the glass around me. My long claws, once useful weapons, now seemed useless against this material. It was far stronger than any normal glass, and I soon gave up, conserving what little energy I had.

Then came a familiar voice, and I snapped my head around in anger.

"You finally decided to wake up, I see," the Dark One said with a sneer.

_No matter how much he looks like my Ian-mon, I still have this huge desire to tear him limb from limb... _I snarled at him, a hiss emitting from my mouth afterwards. "Where is Ian-mon?" I demanded, growling as I did so. This vile creature was an insult to everything Ian-mon meant to me.

"Oh, not too far away," he said absently. "Just biding his time, I guess. He'll be back soon, though. Probably tomorrow or the day after."

"And he'll kill you," I growled, gnashing my teeth in anger.

"Temper, temper," he said, the sneer returning. "Besides, it's not like you're going anywhere in a hurry. Sit down! Let's chat."

I was disgusted by the notion. I turned my back to him, slumping back down to the ground in a cramped position. "I'd rather not," I said, crossing my arms.

There was a beeping sound from behind me, and then the next think I knew I was being attacked by electricity. A scream tore from my mouth as the energy coursed through me, and then all of a sudden it was over. I was lying on the floor, panting, a buzzing feeling left in my body.

"You will not turn your back at me!" the Dark One roared.

When I looked around, he seemed to be consumed in a black flame, glaring at me with such anger... I nearly whimpered. Still, I was not going to give this freak the satisfaction he desired. I looked away from him, my mouth clamped shut.

Another beeping sound came out, and I braced for the shock. Again, energy coursed through me, and I let out another scream.

When it stopped, I was left in the same position as before, out of breath and buzzing painfully. The next few hours were filled with torture, and by the time he stopped, I didn't have enough energy to stay conscious anymore.

My eyes snapped open.

_Guilmon_.

He was in trouble.

Morning had come, and with the sun just peeking over the horizon, I decided that I should go and check on Joshua and Gomamon. As I hobbled back down the hill, I realised how scary I must've been the previous night to the little kid and his digimon.

Regret filled me, more than I had felt when I realised I had completely forgotten my friends back in my old world. I untucked the Crest of Life from within my shirt, the crawled through the cave entrance, wincing in pain as I went.

"Joshua?" I asked timidly. "Gomamon?"

There was a bit of movement in the cave, then I saw Joshua uncurl from sleep, Gomamon sprawled out on top of him. "Ian?"

I held out the crest, glad that I had taken the precaution. "Sorry to wake you," I said quietly, leaning up against the wall across from the two of them. "Did you sleep well enough?"

They looked at each other, then back to me. "Better than in chains," Joshua said, rubbing his arms. Gomamon quickly jumped up into his lap. "Are you all right? We heard you screaming last night..."

I rolled up my pant leg, revealing the cast on my knee. "I've had a fractured knee for the past week, and I've been running and walking on it... last night wasn't as friendly as every other time has been."

They two of them looked back to each other, shocked expressions on their faces. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "No, but I'll be fine. I'm way too worried about Guilmon... I just know that he's in pain. But that's not the point. I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted last night. I was letting my emotions get the better of me, and I hope I didn't scare you too much."

"We were mostly worried for your physical condition," Gomamon piped up. "After the fall... and then you kept going all night! That was the scary part."

I nodded, a brief smile appearing on my face before quickly disappearing. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I have to go and get Guilmon back. I don't want you two to come with me though," I said before they could interrupt. "You've had a close enough encounter with the Dark One, and I don't want you being captured again."

They both sighed, looking back to each other. "So what, you're going to limp all the way back to the mountain on your own?" Gomamon asked, a bit angrily.

"I'll do what I have to!" I snapped. Then I realised again how angry I was. With a deep breath, I started over. "I have a lot on my mind right now," I said. "I know my judgement is skewed right now, but I simply don't want you to get caught by... by _him_ again. I feel bad enough as it is with the fact that he's out here at all."

"What do you mean?" Joshua asked, confusion jumping across his face.

It was my turn to lose eye contact now. "Why do you think he looks like me?" I asked. "Coincidence?"

"So what then, you brought him here with you?" Gomamon asked.

"I came here with only Guilmon," I replied. "But he still came with us. It's because... because he's a part of me."

There were two loud gasps, and then silence.

"That's why I want you to stay here," I said finally. "I promised I would do everything in my power to keep you safe, and I wouldn't be able to take it if it was my fault you were hurt. You were lucky to get out alive this time at all."

"H... how?" Joshua asked.

"I don't know very well," I answered, "but everything I do know would take forever to explain. For now I have to go and get Guilmon."

Then, before I could let them reply, I left the cave. I had waited too long as it was. Guilmon needed me.

I lay there in the darkness, shivering. Everything hurt, and it felt like my entire body was throbbing in pain. I still didn't know long how many hours of torture it had been, but I was trying hard to forget them right now.

The darkness was just like before... Even with Ian-mon there I had been petrified, and now? Now I was alone, and the only life anywhere around seemed to be... that vile creature. The very thought of him made me bare my teeth in rage... And then there was everything he did to my Ian-mon! Torturing him while he slept... That was the one place he should've been completely safe! _Oh Ian-mon, I just hope you're okay... You've been so frail recently! No matter how hard I tried to protect you, you were always getting hurt! _Regret started to seep into me. _That's my job as a chosen digimon! To protect you! Now I don't even know where you are... And I know that you need me! My poor, poor Ian-mon... _

"Still moping are we?"

I jumped up in shock, whipping around to see him clearly in the darkness. His pale, white skin, his black hair, and those piercing, cold, grey eyes. I turned my back to him again, knowing that pain would come anyway.

He sighed. "Do we have to do this again?" he asked. "Can't we just be friends? I mean, Ian and I are practically the same person!"

My eyes opened wide open in rage. Whipping back around to him, I bared my teeth and got into an attack pose. "You are nothing like my Ian-mon!" I roared. "How dare you insult him so! You're nothing but a vile insect, and you don't deserve to exist!"

A loud beep caught my attention, then electricity started blasting through me.

But now it was stronger.

Screams tore from my mouth from this unrelenting anguish. "IAN-MON!" I screamed.

It felt like my blood was boiling now. A minute of nonstop electricity went by, and still it didn't stop.

But then it did. I collapsed to the ground, still crying out in pain. "Oh, Ian-mon!" I moaned.

"If you ever talk like that to me, don't expect to survive it," he snarled. "All it takes is one button and you'll be off on one of the most painful deaths in history."

"Guilmon!" I cried out in fear.

I had been going along at a painfully slow pace for a few hours now, and then all of a sudden I just knew that something terrible was happening to him. I could _feel_ him calling out for me.

Trying desperately to go faster, the pain in my knee started to get worse. I was too scared to look at it though, because I knew that it would be red and swollen to twice its normal size.

When I passed the river, I sped up still, the mountain quickly coming into view. My heartbeat sped up in anticipation, and I soon found myself going steadily upwards on the mountain. _I'm so close... Guilmon, you'd better be okay! _

In all my hurrying, I hadn't been paying close attention to where I was going, and I stumbled over a root, crashing to the ground.

Of course I landed on my knee.

I screeched far louder than I ever had. This hurt so much! Tears rushed to my eyes as the overwhelming pain took over me. Somehow, though, I got up again and kept going, cursing loudly with each step I took on my pained leg.

Whenever I came close to stopping, I had to remember, _this is for Guilmon. He's worth everything... he's worth anything. No amount of pain will stop me from getting back to him._

I used trees for supports at many times, and I started to feel pathetic again. Whatever the case was, though, it paid off. I was standing once again before the entrance into the mountain.

A memory came back to me, and I quickly pulled out my digivice.

Guilmon was barely a hundred feet away.

That thought done, I shook my head and stepped into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Twenty-Nine

I held my digivice out in front of me, that being the only source of light once I stepped into the mountain. It didn't fight back against the darkness, for I couldn't see any further than I normally could've, but I could at least see my digivice.

I walked for about ten minutes, or rather, limped, but I stopped short when I heard a moan of pain. "Guilmon!" I cried, dashing forwards. It only took a few moments before I saw him.

It looked like a giant test tube with a keyboard below it, but I didn't care about that. Behind the glass was the one I had been searching for, looking eagerly back at me. I ran up to the glass, his smile warming my heart immediately. "Ian-mon!" he shouted, pressing as hard as he could to the glass, trying to reach me. "You're okay!"

I nodded quickly, jumping down to the keyboard. "Are you okay?" I asked quickly, looking around at the buttons.

"I'm fine now," he said sadly, "but he was able to make electricity come in here. He did it whenever he got mad at me."

My fist pounded onto the consule, bruising. "I said I'd tear his heart out," I said under my breath. "Guilmon, I'm going to try and get you out of there!"

I looked down at the buttons, but they were all blank. I didn't want to press one because I could just as easily hurt Guilmon by doing that.

"You won't find the button there," a dark voice said.

Pain errupted in my side as I was smashed away from the consule.

Guilmon screamed in fear as I flew to the floor a few feet away.

When I looked up, I saw the Dark One standing there, brandishing his fists in front of me. I remembered with a shudder of how easily he had picked me up in the dream, and I knew that he was just as powerful in real life. "Let him out now," I demanded, struggling back to my feet.

"Or what?" he laughed. "You'll limp at me?" He tilted his head back and laughed.

I took that moment when he wasn't looking to attack. I lunged forwards, slamming my fist into his gut. I watched with satisfaction as his eyes widened in shock at both the pain from being hit, and also the sizzling sound that emitted from it. My hand burned painfully, but I didn't care. Not after what he did to Guilmon.

While he fell to the floor, he kicked his legs out at me, hitting the side of my bad leg. I screamed in pain, falling to the floor with him. I too screamed in pain, and I had to listen in fear to Guilmon's cries too.

The Dark One quickly got back up, taking the opportunity to kick me in the gut as hard as he could. "You're going to pay for that!" he snarled, walking back to the consule. He looked around for a second, then pressed a button on it, a loud beep emitting from it.

My eyes pricked up, and then came the sound of Guilmon screaming in pain. I scrabbled around on the ground, trying to get up, and then looked to see blue electricity coursing through the glass prison Guilmon was in, and to see him flailing around in pain.

Anger seeped through me once more and I leapt up at the Dark One, slamming my fists into the side of his neck. Both of us screamed in pain as he toppled to the ground, and I barely had two seconds to press the same button on the consule, turning off the electricity, before lunging back down to the ground after the Dark One.

I landed on him, my knees on either side of his chest. One hand darted to his throat while the other raised upwards in a fist. "I told you what I'd do if you touched him," I snarled, ignoring the burning from both my hand and his throat. I slammed my fist down, punching him in the face.

I don't know how he did it, but he still had strength to fight back. He raised both his fists and punched me in the chest and the jaw, a painful pop coming from it. The pain brought stars to my eyes, but I held fast, punching him again in the face.

"DIE!" I screamed vehemently, punching him again and again, ignoring his attacks and the sizzling as my skin hit him.

Finally, when I thought I wasn't going to be able to keep going anymore, I remembered my legs. I lifted up a bit, crying out in pain from my knee, then slammed my knees onto his ribcage.

Many loud cracks came from him, and a deafening scream came from his mouth. His fists stopped, all struggling stopped, and I quickly let go of him, putting my burnt hands into the folds of my shirt.

Slowly and carefully as I could, I moved off of him and watched as every breath he took filled him with agony. Then I reached one of my hands into his pocket and immediately found what I was looking for: a small remote control.

Then, with extremely exaggerated movements from all the pain I was in, I got up and turned around to look for Guilmon. He was leaning against the glass, looking at me with tears in his big amber eyes. My heart sank as I realised the pain he was in, and I took a moment to examine the remote.

There were three buttons. One was red and had a lightning bolt on it, and the other two displayed a locked and an unlocked padlock. I pointed the remote at the machine, looked back up to Guilmon, then froze. His mouth was open in shock, and it only took me a half second to realise from what.

I started to turn around, but a burning and death defying pain exploded in my upper chest.

I couldn't even scream the pain was so hard.

My head tilted down to my chest, and right where my heart was, a blade of black energy was protruding from it, blood already seeping down my shirt.

Guilmon screamed, but that was all I got before everything went black.

I screamed as I watched the Dark One throw the blade into my precious Ian-mon, tears coming as I watched him look at the blade in confusion, his mouth open wide. The light in his eyes seemed to fade out, and then he toppled to the ground in a tangled heap.

Anger and instinct took over me. Screams errupted from my mouth, and I lashed out at the glass, trying to break free. I was already in pain just sitting still, but now as I ruthlessly used every ounce of my energy trying to break free. My heart seared with pain and sadness from what had just happened. _HE CAN'T BE DEAD! __IAN-MON CAN'T DIE! __NO! _I rammed against the glass, bruising my shoulder. I went again and again, unsure whether or not my bones would even be able to take this kind of abuse. "IAN-MON!" I screamed.

When I used the last bit of my energy, I simply collapsed against the glass, tears rolling from my eyes.

"You can't die!" I moaned.

There was a flash of black light, and anger seethed through me as I watched the Dark One get up as if he hadn't sustained a single hit.

"I think that fact has been disproved," he said, rolling up his sleeves. The crest around his neck was glowing maliciously, the forked design on it almost growing from the pool of blood that lay on the ground underneath Ian-mon's lifeless body.

"You beast..." I gasped, each of my breaths pained. I could now understand the empty space that Ian-mon had been feeling when he had disappeared back into his old world.

"Ha!" he laughed, looking up at me. "Your words couldn't bother me in the least! I'll collect my prize and then take every second of pleasure in watching your slow and painful death!" He tilted his head back, cackling.

I hated him with every fibre of my being. Even if I had had the strength to get back up, though, there was nothing that I would've been able to do. Tears continued falling from my eyes as I watched him laughing, and even more at the sight of Ian-mon lying in a pool of his own blood.

_We were so close! How could it all end like this?_

Then the Dark One bent down, flipping over Ian-mon's body with no remorse. The Crest of Life was hanging out of his shirt, a few drops of blood on it. The black blade had long since dissipated, and all it left was a hole in Ian-mon's shirt. The once white shirt now had almost no white on it left at all. It was all a deep shade of red... the colour of blood.

The Dark One's hand was barely a centimetre away from the Crest of Life, when all of a sudden a blast of blinding, golden light exploded from the crest, instantly blinding both the living creatures in the mountain.

It was like that for almost a minute before it disappeared, revealing that the Dark One had been blasted back several metres. The Crest of Life had disappeared, but my heart leapt as I watched Ian-mon cough, rolling onto his side and grasping his chest in pain.

Pain exploded from where my heart was, and I rolled over onto my side, coughing from the lack of air in my lungs. I felt the remote in my hand and instantly remembered what I had been doing, and pressed the unlock button.

A loud buzzing sound filled the air for a moment, and then I rolled over to see a red blur dash by me to the evil figure of myself several feet away.

"Guilmon!" I cried, trying to sit up. My knee didn't hurt anymore, but my chest was simply burning!

When I looked back up I saw Guilmon holding the Dark One up by his neck. "You killed my Ian-mon," he snarled, "and now it's your turn to die!" He reached back with his free hand, then slammed it forwards to the Dark One, all three of his giant claws piercing the flesh, undoubtably organs, then emerging from the opposite side through his back.

The Dark One screamed loudly, cursing both Guilmon and me, and a loud rumbling filling the mountain.

"It's going to collapse!" I cried through gritted teeth, the burning in my chest only getting worse.

Guilmon seemed to snap back into reality, then dropped the Dark One's flailing body letting it slide off his long claws. There were still screams flying from the Dark One, and they were so hideous I know my skin wanted to peel, but I ignored it as Guilmon appeared at my side, picking me up in his arms. "Ian-mon!" he cried, clutching my blood-soaked body.

I got down onto my own two feet, managing not to fall over in pain at the burning in my chest. "We have to leave!" I shouted. "Now!" I grabbed Guilmon's bloody hand and pulled him in the opposite direction from the prison he had been kept in, but stopped when I came to the Dark One's body.

He looked up at me with pleading eyes, as if begging me to help him, but instead I reached down to his neck and grabbed the Crest of Darkness, ripping it off from around his neck, then dropping it on the floor beside him. I lifted my leg up, watching the fright build up in his eyes, then stomped down hard on the Tag, feeling it shatter beneath my feet.

Another earth shattering scream tore from his mouth, and I watched as more darkness seemed to seep out of the remains of the Tag and Crest, but Guilmon quickly got us going, trying to escape the screaming.

We ran through the darkness, quickly emerging through the hole in the mountain, then we nearly fell over as another rumble shook the mountain. We heard rocks start to fall from inside the hole we had just come out of, but we didn't stick around to hear it.

We had already had our share of collapsing mountains.

Hand in hand we tore down the mountain, slipping, stumbling, but never falling. My chest had been causing so much pain, and once again stars were dancing around my eyes, but I kept going, Guilmon's hand firmly holding onto my own.

Far faster then ever before, we reached the bottom of the mountain. We didn't stop to see what might've been behind us – the sound of falling trees had been quiet enough for us – and we kept on running.

Rumble after rumble, quake after quake, we soon were almost a kilometre from the mountain. When we looked back, everything seemed to be quiet. The mountain looked like it had been turned inside out, but it was all just a pile of rocks and trees.

As soon as that image passed through my mind, I collapsed to the ground to grapple with the pain from my chest.

"Ian-mon!" Guilmon cried, dropping down next to me. "What's wrong?"

"...My... CHEST!" I cried, tearing open my bloodsoaked shirt. "It burns!"

Guilmon gasped, and I looked down to see what looked like a white tattoo of the Crest of Life imprinted into the centre of my chest. It was glowing lightly, and I figured that that had been the cause of the pain. With trembling hands, Guilmon reached down and touched it, placing his hands firmly down on the Crest.

All the pain left me then. I was left with a cool, refreshing feeling like my soul had just been rejuvinated. I took a few deep breaths, trying to understand it, but I quickly gave up and leapt at Guilmon, holding him tightly. "Guilmon!" I cried, tears rolling from my eyes. I pulled him down on top of me, squeezing him like my very life depended on it. I felt his arms wrap around me, holding me just as tight, and his tail promptly curled down my leg.

"You're alive!" he cried, tears still rolling from his eyes. He pressed his cheek hard against mine, rolling over until I was lying on him. "I was so scared! So scared!"

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" I sobbed, tears now falling from both of our eyes. "It was just... dark... But now!" I stopped talking altogether and burrowed my head into his chest.

Guilmon squeezed me even tighter, as if he was going to absorb me completely. "I'm not going to let you go again!" he said firmly. "I promise!"

Half an hour must've passed of us just lying there in the cloudy afternoon light. Finally, though, we stood up, hand in hand, and started walking.

We arrived at Gabumon's cave a couple hours later.

I was still soaked in blood, but I hadn't wanted to wash off until Joshua and Gomamon were alerted. I felt terrible for making them stay in the cave since the previous night, but when we got back they were ecstatic to see us. They were shocked when they saw me covered in blood, but from the way I was acting, they knew that nothing was wrong anymore.

Together the four of us walked to the river, and while Joshua and Gomamon waiting at the same tree that Guilmon and I had sat at, Guilmon and I plunged into the water to wash off.

Maybe an hour later we crawled out of the water, completely clean. I had managed to get all the blood out of my clothes (it was a miracle that they didn't stain) and then I sat down with Guilmon to tell them what happened.

The sun was just setting as we lay down for sleep. Once we had finished telling Joshua and Gomamon what had happened, and my clothes finished drying off, we went off to get some food for an early supper, then lay down for sleep.

After all the time that they had spent inside the cave, they decided to sleep just outside on the grass. If it got too cold they would come in, but I had a feeling that they wouldn't want that.

Guilmon and I, however, wanted to be in the cave, so once we made sure that the other two would be okay, we crawled in. I lay down on my side, then Guilmon lay down behind me, pulling me up close to him. He wrapped his arms tightly around my torso, and his tail curled around my leg again.

After a few minutes of just silence, Guilmon decided to talk.

"Do you think it's over?" he asked.

I was quiet for a while, searching myself for the answer. "No," I said finally, "I don't think so. I'd know if he was gone for good. He won't show himself for a long time now, and when he does, he won't be much of a threat to anyone. The Crest of Darkness is destroyed now, which I believe was the channeler for all his energy."

"But he's still out there then?" Guilmon asked.

I nodded. "Definitely. But we shouldn't worry about him now. Joshua and Gomamon were chosen for a reason, and I'm sure that their purpose in the Digital World has yet to pass... No. We shouldn't think about him right now."

Guilmon sighed, resting his head on my shoulder. "I'll never forgive him for what he did to you," he said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I want to hunt him down for what he did to you," I said, twisting my head around to look at him. "He tortured you, and there's no way he can be allowed to live with that."

Guilmon put his face against mine again. "I love you, Ian-mon."

"And I love you too, Guilmon," I replied, putting my hand on the opposite side of his head.


	8. Chapter 8

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Thirty

I felt like I would never leave that spot... I had never been so happy in all my life. Coming to the Digital World had been the best, then it was taken over by finding Guilmon, but now... I couldn't imagine any form of elation higher than this. I was lying with my best friend in the entire world... well, two worlds I guess, and we had just defeated the greatest evil that the world had ever seen. Though we both knew it was temporary, after the Crest of Darkness had been destroyed under my foot, it seemed that the dark clouds that had ever haunted this world had been destroyed. Even though we had watched the mountain collapse on top of the Dark One (there was no way I was ever going to name him now) I knew that someone like him would manage to find a way to survive.

I moved my cheek gently against Guilmon's chest, his beating heart the most comforting sound possible for me. _But last time we were like this... It was all taken away from us. Maybe that's our next course of action: to find a way so that I never have to leave here. _Nonetheless, I wasn't going to let those thoughts ruin this moment. Well, this moment was really the past night and the first several hours after sunrise.

Guilmon moved a bit, his arms tightening around me for a moment. I looked up to him to find his beautiful amber eyes looking back down at me. "Good morning?" he asked, unsure of the time from the sunlight pouring into the cave. He had moved a bit earlier, but I was pretty sure that he hadn't awoken until now.

"Yeah," I replied, a smile spreading across my face. I put my head back down against his chest, tightening my own grip upon Guilmon. "I don't want to let go again," I said quietly. My thoughts raced to the future once more, but I quickly stamped them out.

"Neither do I," Guilmon replied, his hand running through my hair affectionately. "I've never felt so right as I do now. Do you know what I mean?"

I moved up, my head directly over Guilmon's.

"Out of all the people in the whole world," I said, "I know the most what you mean." I leaned down and put my head next to his, hugging him tightly. "I've never been this happy before Guilmon. You really have saved my life."

His tail curled down around my leg again as he hugged me back, pressing his head firmly onto my shoulder. "Thank-you, Ian-mon," he said quietly. "You make me... so happy."

I started as I felt a cold tear run into my hair. I pulled back slightly to see a few tears coming down his cheeks, a pleasant smile plastered onto his face.

"Hey," I said, brushing the tears away lightly, "don't cry. You'll make me sad!"

He quickly latched his arms around me again, pulling me back down. A pang of worry came to me as I felt him trembling. "Guilmon," I said worriedly, "what is it?"

"I don't want you to go again!" he whimpered. "We've barely had any time at all... I don't want you to go again!" I opened my mouth to reply, but his his hand pressed onto the back of my head, an incentive to keep hushed. "I know you're going to say you won't leave, but you said that before too! No matter how hard either of us seem to want it – no, _need_ it – we were still taken away from each other!" He shuddered. "I don't know how you're going to stay here any longer!"

"Hey," I said comfortingly, my hand running across his tear streaked face. "We'll figure it out, okay? I don't know how, but we will. Do you understand me?"

His quivering stopped, and he let out a long sigh. "You're so great," he said,

There was some rustling at the cave entrance. "You two ready to wake up?" Joshua asked qith a bit of a laugh.

I looked to Guilmon and found him nodding a bit, trying to rub the tears from his eyes. "We'll be out in a minute," I called back. I returned my eyes to Guilmon and hugged him again. "Think you're going to be all right?" I asked quietly.

He nodded, brushing his hands across his eyes again.

With that I reluctantly rolled off of him, getting up to my feet in a quick motion. Once I was up, I extended my hand to him, pulling him up to his feet when he took it. "You sure?" I asked.

"Yes, thank-you," he replied, hugging me again briefly.

I smiled, starting out of the cave.

The sun was shining brightly upon us as the two of us stepped out onto the grassy hill. Joshua and Gomamon were laying on the grass a few metres above us, and they both waved when we appeared. Guilmon and I both marched up to them, dropping down to the grass a couple feet away. "All better?" Joshua asked.

Both Guilmon and I nodded. "Thanks," I said. "How about you two? Not too shaken up from the adventure yet?"

Gomamon smirked, his head dropping to the ground. "No," he said happily, "not yet at least."

Joshua looked up to both of us, my scars still clearly visible and Guilmon still with red eyes from crying. "Well, I really haven't got to do too much here... It was pretty much wake up, wander around for a while before the Dark One found us." He shuddered at this point. "But with him gone for at least a little while, I guess I'm ready for an adventure." He tried to shake off his worries and he smiled widely. "Besides _him_, I've really liked everything I've seen here."

"Well I'm glad that the Dark One didn't perturb your opinions on something this great," I said, leaning back onto the grass like Gomamon. "Because you're in for a real treat."

"Speaking of which," Guilmon said, "what are we going to do now? Ian and I have something we need to work out still, but what do you want to do?"

Gomamon propped himself up on his elbows, looking up at Joshua next to him. "I dunno..." he said slowly. "Any ideas Joshua?"

He looked to me. "What do you have to do?" he asked.

I sighed, Guilmon moviing over next to me. "We need to find a way to make it so I never go back," I said. "Last time was... too painful. I don't want to go back. Ever."

Both Joshua and Gomamon fell silent for a while. From the look on their faces, they looked like they weren't interested in that. "Umm..." Joshua started.

"Joshua," Guilmon said finally, breaking the awkward situation. "The Digiworld is a huge place, and as a digidestined you have every right to explore whatever part you want. Just because both of you are digidestined doesn't necessarily mean that we always need to stick together."

"And besides," Gomamon said, understanding our point immediately. "If we spread out, we'll have a better grasp of the Digital World, right?"

Joshua nodded too. "That sounds like a good idea," he said, the smile returning to his face. "Maybe we can keep in contact with these devices then." He rooted around in his pocket for a moment, pulling out to both my and Guilmon's surprise, a digivice.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, instantly turning serious. My hand instinctively darted to my own which still rested at its rightful place at my waist.

He raised an eyebrow momentarily at my response. "...I found it in my pocket after I woke up in this world. You had one too, so I thought it was something that the digidestined got."

I relaxed, unsure why I had been bothered in the first place. "Well, that's almost the same as how it happened to me..." I said, returning to my regular way. "Seadramon and Birdramon were just starting to sink into the Fraser River, Guilmon started glowing and I found the digivice glowing in my backpack. When I grabbed it, Guilmon evolved and then we came here."

Joshua nodded slowly. "Then maybe we can communicate with these then." He looked at it, then was startled to see what I knew already to be there: three red dots in the centre of the screen. He looked up to find me nodding knowledgeably. "Are those all of us?" he asked incredulously.

"Yep," I replied, taking my digivice into my hands. As a quick experiment, I pressed down on one of the three buttons. When nothing happened, I tried the next with the same results. Finally, when I pressed the last one, a loud beeping emitted from Joshua's digivice making all of us jump. "I guess we can communicate then," I replied with a smile. "Try pressing the button on the left side, the other two don't seem to do anything."

When he pressed the button, a beep returned to my digivice, along with the soft sound of static. He tapped on the digivice and a tapping sound came out from my digivice. We both let go of the buttons and the static stopped.

A bit more than an hour later, the four of us were sitting in a car on a Trainmon, heading to our futures. We didn't know where we were going to stop, or whether we would be getting off at the same stop at all. Whatever the case, we sat at our seats quietly, watching the scenery go by.

I couldn't believe it when the sun started to set. We had passed through cities, occasionally making stops in them, but usually we just passed right thorugh. Then we would go through forests, each time introducing me to an entirely new type of vegetation. I was so startled the first few times, but after about the fourth, I started to calm down. I was getting used to the Digital World again.

Guilmon surprised me a lot during the day. Knowing him as well as I did, I thought that he would get antsy just sitting in a train all day, but he always seemed happy, and when I would ask him, he would say, "I'm just glad that we can slow things down for a change." We would get bored still, in which case we would just lean onto each other.

Joshua on the other hand was so excited with everything that we were seeing. Each time a city came around, he would jump up to the window, nose pressed against the glass, then exclaim loudly at all the digimon that were there. He wasn't nearly as bothered by the trees as I was, but he was moderately interested in them, which surprised me. Most kids in my world, well, most people in my world weren't interested in plants in the least. Sometimes he would ask what a particularly interesting one was, but each time I would have to admit that I didn't know myself, so he soon gave up on asking, and instead would just note them aloud.

Gomamon was a lot like Guilmon. He was a lot more anxious to get off somewhere, but he was glad that he could spend time with his human partner. He often tried to spark a conversation with Guilmon, but everything worth talking about seemed to already have been said.

So when night came around, along with the dinner trolley, we had a quick dinner then lay down onto the seats to sleep. Joshua curled up against the wall, Gomamon hidden within his arms. I lay down against Guilmon, and he put his arm over me. With that, the four of us slowly fell asleep to the calming rocking of the Trainmon.

We awoke far earlier that day than I would've ever wanted. It was barely light out, but we were clearly at an extremely busy stop. Joshua and Gomamon were instantly awake, but Guilmon and I were still blinded by the faint light.

"Ian," Joshua said quietly. "Guilmon. I want to get off at this stop."

That was enough to wake the two of us up sufficently. I glanced quickly out the window to see a city that looked, if possible, bigger than the one Guilmon and I had last been in. "Are you sure?" I asked, realising that time was a factor now.

He and Gomamon both nodded. "We wanna start big," Gomamon said.

I smiled, then said, "well, I just want you to be careful then. Big cities like this are always a threshold for all sorts of digimon."

"Thanks," he said, a huge smile on his face. "Thanks for everything you two have done for us. Ian, I can't thank you enough for helping me get here." He patted his digivice in an obvious manner. Like me, he had taken to wearing it on his waist. "We'll keep in touch."

The two of us shook hands, but he hugged Guilmon tightly. We both shook hands with Gomamon too. With one last wave, they were gone and we were off again.

I watched the two dots on my digivice fly out of the screen with a bit of sadness. I hadn't known them long, but sharing such a great thing with someone just made me feel like we had known each other for ages.

There was a loud beep from the digivice, and when I pressed down on the big button, I heard Joshua say, "thanks again you guys."

Then Gomamon's voice piped up. "You two had better stay safe too!"

Both Guilmon and I smiled, leaning onto each other's shoulders. "Thanks you guys," I said.

"We'll miss you," Guilmon said. "Don't hesitiate to call at any sign of trouble."

"We won't," Joshua replied, the connection shutting off.

We looked at each other, the smiles still there, ready for another long day of travelling.

About an hour after the lunch trolley had rolled by, I jumped up with a sudden thought in my head. "Guilmon," I asked, "which direction are we going?"

Confusion appeared on his face, but with a quick look out the window he replied, "north. Why?"

"I think I know where we can start looking," I said quickly, eager with the new thought. "Remember after the Temple of Life I was teleported up into the middle of an arctic wasteland?"

Guilmon's eyes widened in realisation. "The Trainmon!" he exclaimed. Then suspiscion took over. "But what happens if the same thing happens again?"

"Do we have any other leads?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, I told Wolfemon that we'd come and visit him."

He sighed deeply, then agreed. "You're right, and I know it," he said. "I just don't want anything to happen to you."

I smiled widely, wrapping my arms around him. "Thank you for your concern, Guilmon. I'll be extremely careful. And besides, with you there, I should be even safer."

That brought a smile to his face too. He was glad that I was taking his over-protectiveness seriously. "Thank-you," he said.

"Trainmon!" I called out.

"Yes, human child?" it replied. This one had an almost normal voice.

"How far north do you go?"

"As far north as you can go. It's only the black Trainmon that takes people back though."

"Then that's where we'd like to go please," I said.

"Then you're in for another day of travelling," it replied. "It'll take about fourteen hours, give or take a couple if we don't have busy stops."

"Thank-you."

I was awoken by Guilmon's prodding. It was dark out again, but since dinner felt ages away, I guessed that it might've been extremely early in the morning. "What is it, Guilmon?" I groaned. "Is something wrong?"

He pointed out the window to an endless expanse of white snow. "Is that... snow?" he asked quietly, realising that I was sitll really tired.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. "Yeah... is that what you woke me for?" I immediately realised that that had been extremely rude. "I'm sorry, why're you awake?"

He pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around me. "I woke up about half an hour ago... it's really cold."

My memories darted back to the desert where he had seemed quite comfortable. I hadn't thought about how he might react to the snow. Turning to the side slightly, I wrapped my arms back around him. He didn't feel any different heat-wise, but from the look on his face it was quite clear that he could sense the cold. "Are you going to be okay?" I asked quietly.

He pressed his head onto my shoulder, trying to hide from the cold. "I don't know," he replied slowly, embracing my warmth. Not only had I spent time out in this same weather before, but after living in Canada for fifteen years, I was almost oblivious to moderate cold. Sure I had nearly died out in this cold, but I knew what I was up against now, and I knew where I was going. "Is it a long way to get to Wolfemon's cave?"

I froze.

I hadn't thought about how we would make it to the cave without freezing. "Trainmon?" I called out.

The sleepy digimon's voice replied quietly, "yes?"

"Is there anything on board that we could use to keep warm in the snow for about an hour?"

Silence wafted through the train for a moment. When I was about to ask again, he replied, "there's some electric blankets in storage... maybe some jackets. I'll have them wheeled to your car by morning."

"Thank-you!" Guilmon exclaimed, glad to know that we weren't going to die out there.

"Well that's one bullet avoided," I said quietly.

Guilmon patted my head gently before I slipped off into sleep once more.

I started into wakefulness, my head pressed firmly into Guilmon's shivering chest. He wasn't particularly cold, but he could feel it coming. That much was clear.

The sun was shining into the car, twice as bright from the snow it reflected off of. Before I could even talk to Guilmon, I jumped up and pulled down on the curtain cord, the thick, red material blocking out the painfully bright sun in seconds. Then when I sat back down next to Guilmon, he latched onto me like I was the only source of heat. "Guilmon," I said, looking into his wide amber eyes. "Are you okay?"

"The cold is scaring me," he said in a voice barely over a whisper.

If anything, I felt a little too warm in the small car. "It's nothing to be scared of, Guilmon," I said, prying my arm out of his so I could put them around his torso. When I did, he leaned over and tried to sink into me. "It's only dangerous to people who don't respect its laws or to people who just don't know them."

"But I don't know them!" he nearly shouted.

"Hush!" I said, rubbing his back reassuringly. "They're really quite obvious, once you take the time to think about it. Never go out into it without knowing your limits. You'll know them the second you feel it, so don't worry. Never let anything besides clear thought rule your judgement. And one that I learned the hard way, never EVER go to sleep in it. It's a sure way to never wake up."

"But you did," he pointed out proudly.

"That's only because I was horrifyingly lucky," I said quietly, remembering how long it had taken me to return to normal once I realised I wasn't dead. "A perfect example of breaking another rule: I let what I thought to be logic take over rational thinking. I just thought I would rest for a moment, but the cold had made me think that way."

He nodded slowly, the thought of falling asleep in the cold pushing him harder onto me. "You'll make sure I don't fall asleep, won't you?" he asked timidly.

"Of course I will!" I exclaimed, patting the back of his head. "I would never willingly let anything happen to you!"

Our conversation was interrupted by the breakfast trolley coming to our door. After we took as much as we could, a coat rack with fleece blankets, five big, orange heat blankets and one enormous jacket showed up too. We grabbed them, then shut the door as we decided how we would use them.

I would use the fleece blankets and Guilmon would use the jacket. (The inside of it said Metalmeramon written on a tag which explained its size.) We would only use the heat blankets when we couldn't take the cold any longer.

Once we had it figured out, Guilmon crawled into the jacket, trying to pull me in with him. I nearly laughed at the sight of it: a giant red lizard looking like a dwarf under the folds of a great big, brown jacket.

It wasn't snowing out, and the sun was poking through the light grey clouds, so I was hopeful that we wouldn't have to worry about a blizzard. Not like I had had to.

In a bit more than an hour, a loud bell tolled through the train. "Arriving at the Arctic Stop. Please remain seated until I've come to a complete stop."

Guilmon's hand tightened around mine, scared of what was about to come.

"Don't worry," I said calmly. "We'll be fine."

The Trainmon slowed to a halt and Guilmon and I both stood up and went to the door. I was wrapped tightly in the blankets, Guilmon trying not to trip over the jacket that hung off of his shoulders, and the heat blankets were tucked into one of the great pockets of the jacket.

Another loud ring echoed through the Trainmon and the doors slid open, revealing the station that I had been at so long ago. A burst of wind came at us, and Guilmon almost tried to step back, but I pulled him out and we both set food into the ankle deep snow at the Arctic Stop.


	9. Chapter 9

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Thirty-One

We had only spent about a minute waiting within the small, concrete building, making sure I remembered which direction to go, and Guilmon had already asked me twice if we could open the first heat blanket.

"Guilmon, we're still inside," I had said, amusement taking over my annoyance in the matter. It was just so... fitting for him.

After another minute or so I pushed the door open, pulling Guilmon after me. When he put his feet into the snow he flinched, a chill running through him. "How long is it again?" he asked.

"If we have the weather with us, probably an hour," I replied. Worry touched me as I started to remember all my First Aid training. _Could it really be that bad for him?_ "Guilmon," I said after a pause, the snow almost coming up to our knees. "You'd tell me if you seriously needed to get warmer, right?" I asked. "I don't want your worry for me overtaking the worry for yourself."

We had been walking in single file, but when I said that he stumbled up beside me and grabbed my arm. "Of course, Ian-mon," he replied, a smile on his face. "I learned from that mistake in the desert."

I stopped then, the cold instantly setting in. "What do you mean?" I asked slowly.

He immediately looked like he didn't plan on saying that. He tried to keep walking, but I firmly grasped his arm. "It's okay," he said, still trying to keep forwards. "We got through it already."

Irritation flashed through me and I pounced on him, the two of us sinking to the snow within the giant folds of the jacket. "Guilmon, I can't have you risking your life! What did you do in the desert?"

He turned his eyes from me, and in the position we were in, he could only look downwards. "It's not really what I did," he said quietly. "It's more of what I didn't do. When I was getting the water, I didn't want to use up all the water before you could get to it."

My eyes widened in shock. "...But you did drink from it, didn't you?" I asked, my voice almost quieter than his.

His lack of reply was all I needed to confirm that he hadn't.

I collapsed on top of him, holding him in a painfully tight embrace. Tears were tearing their way up to my eyes as frustration worked up in me. "Guilmon!" I cried, pressing my head onto his chest. "You can't do that! I don't care if you're worried about me! You have to put your own safety and well-being first sometimes! Do you know what it's like to be alone in mortal danger like that?"

His eyes snapped up to me. "Do you know what it's like to have someone you care about so much literally die in your arms from the force of the night terrors he was having? To be completely alone while the only one you care about is thrashing around in pain and fear and not be able to do anything about it?"

That had been a real blow. I knew he was right, almost more right than I was. There were no tears in his eyes, no sadness hidden there. He was painfully serious. After a short silence, he pulled away from me and pulled three of the heat blankets out of his pocket, dropping them down in the snow in front of me before starting off into the frozen wasteland.

Alone.

All I could do was sit there on my knees, the tears rolling from my eyes petrifyingly cold in the current temperature.

"Guilmon..." I whispered.

Minutes passed in compelte silence, the sound of Guilmon's footfalls long disappeared.

Finally, I couldn't take it any longer. I stood up to chase after him, but when I looked around I could only see the white abyss of the North. No Guilmon off in the distance, no little red pinprick on the horizon...

He was gone.

"Guilmon?" I asked loudly, fear entering my voice.

The frozen Atctic wind was the only reply.

"Guilmon?" I yelled. "GUILMON!"

My hand darted for my digivice, but when I looked at it there was nothing on the screen. _What? We haven't been here long enough for him to get that far away! _I scanned the area again, and it was then, I realised, that it had started to snow.

"No!" I cried, my eyes darting for his tracks in the snow. They were already starting to fill up with the fresh snow. "GUILMON!" I screamed in panic, grabbing the heat blankets and following the tracks. I screamed out in frustration, the knowledge that if I went any faster I would've run out of energy all too real. Hopelessness filled me with each step, for every one I took was into the next of Guilmon's prints, and every one I came to was getting shallower and shallower from the snow.

_What happens when I run out of prints? I can't catch up with him... Do I leave to Wolfemon then?_

Half an hour passed, and although I wasn't feeling tired in the least, and I wasn't getting cold, I was overheated and I was sweating. A bad sign that I'd either get dehydrated (since eating snow is bad for you) or tired out into exhaustion.

In a sudden burst of fear, I started screaming out into the open. "GUILMON!" I screamed, "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU OUT HERE!"

There was still no reply.

"Guilmon," I cried.

_There's nothing I can do now... I can't keep following tracks that are just going to disappear before I find him! But if I leave him out here... he doesn't know how to survive in the north like this! He could die, and I'd never know!_

With every instinct telling me not to, I turned towards the mountains and started to them, heading for Wolfemon's cave.

I had barely gone a few steps, though, before a wave of coldness swept over me. It was with trembling fingers, both from the cold and the fear, that I tore open the package of one of the heat blankets and threw it overtop of me, embracing it's unnatural warmth. I started walking with it, wanting to get as much distance covered as quickly as possible.

_Is this betrayal? Does he want me to come after him? Oh, Guilmon! I only got mad because I care about you! I always make it seem like you're the one who cares too much, but I care for you just as much, more if anything! _

When the thought of betrayal came to mind, I had to try very hard to keep the tears down. Now that I was feeling cold, I knew it would be a bad decision to let water come seeping out of my eyes.

"GUILMON, I LOVE YOU!"

I finally found the cave in the mountainside, and with the second heat blanket used up too, I had been starting to get worried. Besides that I had realised that Guilmon had once again thought more of me than himself and given me the fifth blanket. But I couldn't worry about that now. I had to find Wolfemon.

"Wolfemon!" I called into the cave, unsure whether or not it was proper to enter the cave. "Are you there?"

There was some scrabbling from inside the cave, then in a blur of white the giant wolf digimon had me in a hug. "Ian!" he exclaimed. "You got out here all on your own?"

I felt bad for what I was about to do. "No," I said quickly, my head dipping down in shame. "I came with Guilmon, but... But we got in a fight about half an hour ago I think. He left, and I don't know where he is!"

Concern emanated from Wolfemon. He started to notice the heat blankets and everything else I had with me this time. "Well at least you came prepared this time," Wolfemon said gratefully. "Is Guilmon this well covered?"

I took a long, shuddering sigh. "He's got a huge brown jacket, but he only had two heat blankets. He gave me the fifth when he... left."

I felt him put a hand on my shoulder, then his other went under my chin and tilted my head back upwards. "You look like you've been through a lot, and you need to get properly warmed up. I just put some wood on the fire; you go and warm up and I'll go and find Guilmon."

A sad smile spread across my face. "I just hope he'll listen to you," I said quietly, sadness tugging at my voice. "Thank-you, Wolfemon."

He patted me on the head, and after shooing me into the cave, he bounded off into the snow, seemingly turning the snow grey from the intensity of his stark white fur.

Once he was out of sight, which with his color and the snow that was falling down was considerably fast, I went into the cave, leaned up against the wall and tried to relax.

Wolfemon pounded through the snow, following whatever of Ian's tracks was left trying to point him in the right direction. Even with that and his nose working overtime, there just wasn't any sign of the red digimon anywhere. Because of his colouring too, he knew that it should've been blatantly obvious to see him against the white snow.

_If I can't find him... how can I bring myself back to Ian? The poor creature's been through so much... This would be the end of him! _

He shook his head for even thinking those thoughts, then stood up and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Guilmon!" he roared, his deep voice echoing loudly across the snowy expanse of land. "Where are you?"

With a growl of frustration he returned to all fours and bounded off through the snow.

Indeed, Ian couldn't have come at a better time. Summer was here and the snow was only about two feet deep in most places. There would always be rises and falls in the ground where there would be considerably more or less snow, but the average level was just perfect for the small human child.

Several minutes passed and a considerable amount of ground had been put between him and his cave when suddenly a new smell passed his nose. Snow flew everywhere as he skidded to a halt, retraced his steps and tried to figure out where it was coming from.

_It's not a familiar smell... It must be Guilmon!_ With a surge of energy he tore across the land towards the smell, his powerful legs and arms propelling him several metres with each leap. It was strange to him, though, for no matter how fast he moved, the scent was always the same level of intensity, smelling like it was about a mile away or so.

He searched for more than an hour, worrying for not only Guilmon, but now for Ian who was alone in the cave with a fire that was surely burning dangerously low.

_Well you're both just going to have to hang in there for me! _

"GUILMON!" he barked. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

With still no reply forthcoming, he continued down, hoping that he was going in the right direction.

It was starting to get dark now, as it often did at this time of day in the Arctic. The sun was only up for about nine hours a day, then it got dark, and after what Ian had told him of Guilmon before, being a reptile, he knew that being in the dark for very long out here could be, and if it got much later, would be fatal.

Suddenly, from what appeared to be out of nowhere, a fireball came hurtling out of the air before him, crashing into his chest. He flew back a foot or two, crashing into the ground before pouncing up again to look for his attacker.

"Who are you?" a voice came.

Even with his acute sense of hearing, Wolfemon couldn't tell which direction to face. "I'm Wolfemon," he replied cautiously, "and if you don't recognise me simply by looking at me, you must be a stranger to the North."

There was a long pause and Wolfemon was starting to wonder if he had imagined the voice. Finally, though, a patch of snow moved a bit, catching his attention, and a giant red lizard digimon exploded from the ground, claws flying.

"Guilmon!" Wolfemon roared.

I was sitting in the cave, not daring to poke at the smouldering embers of the fire, for that was all that was left of it, when I heard movement at the entrance. I stood up, forgetting how cold I was and letting the blankets drop to the floor, and watched as Wolfemon stumbled into the cave, Guilmon slung over one of his shoulders and a few logs under the other arm.

"Guilmon!" I exclaimed loudly, rushing over to Wolfemon.

"Stay where you are," Wolfemon said loudly, dropping the logs to the ground beside him. Slowly and carefully, he took Guilmon down from his shoulder and placed him gently on the floor, as far away from me as possible.

He was definitely unconscious, but living, and that's what mattered to me. "What's wrong with him?" I asked fearfully.

"When he wakes up," Wolfemon said quietly, "I don't know if he's going to be... safe." He took a moment to rearrange my friend, putting him into a comfortable, curled up position before putting the logs into the fire pit. Then he came over to me and lay down on the ground. "I don't think you should go near him now."

"What happened?" I asked frantically, the warning holding me in my place. "Is he okay?"

Wolfemon was clearly uncomfortable with the situation, and it was making him physically uncomfortable. He fidgeted a bit, then moved into a sitting position against the wall, motioning for me to sit next to him. I hesitated a bit, but only because I still had the urge to rush to Guilmon. When I did manage to plant myself there, my eyes were glued to Guilmon's back, the part of him that was facing me. "Ian..." he said quietly. "He... I... I told him who I was, and he attacked me. I tried to stop him, telling him that I would take him to you, but he completely freaked out. If I didn't knock him out, he would've disappeared again."

This just wasn't processing in my mind. I had told Guilmon about Wolfemon, and that he was one of the reasons we came out here in the first place. _But why would he have attacked Wolfemon anyway? Especially after he declared himself and about me!_ "But that doesn't make any sense..." I said slowly. "Guilmon doesn't just attack people like that! The only time he's ever done anything is when he attacked the Dark One!"

Wolfemon furrowed his brow, deep in thought. "Has there ever been a time when he was like that around you?"

I thought hard about it for a moment. "No," I replied, "I don't th-" My mind stumbled over the day after I found him in the Digital World. When I tried to ask him what happened his eyes had narrowed down into slits and it was as if he couldn't hear me. I voiced this experience to Wolfemon.

He immediately became extremely serious. "Ian... I think Guilmon has gone primal."

I knew the meaning of the word, but I didn't understand this. "What do you mean?" I asked, quite uncomfortable with the way were were talking about him.

"Usually, because he's Guilmon," Wolfemon said, "he's a Vaccine Type digimon, but there are always exceptions to the rule. I think... I think that Guilmon might be a Virus type. If that were the case, then his survival instincts might have kicked in, putting him in a state of primal instinct, where everyone could be a potential enemy."

"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked, starting to panic. "Is there anything I _can_ do?"

Wolfemon put his hand on my shoulder, uncertainty floating through him. "I don't know, Ian. It has to be obvious that I'm not good in these kinds of situations, but my only suggestion is to wait it off."

I stood up, his hand sliding off my shoulder, and I took the last heat blanket over to Guilmon. Tearing it open, I carefully spread the blanket over him, making sure that he'd keep warm.

Then I went back to Wolfemon, sat down, then closed my eyes.

A snarl dragged me from my sleep. There was only a little bit of light left – the fire had long burned down but Wolfemon didn't usually get fresh wood until morning. Wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I carefully stood up, surprised that Wolfemon hadn't awoken.

I started when I saw Guilmon standing up at the opposite side of the cave, facing the wall. The glowing embers of the fire sent odd shadows everywhere, obscuring my perception.

"Guilmon?" I asked quietly.

He muttered something, as if he was talking in his sleep. The blanket was strewn across the floor, long forgotten... or never even noticed.

I walked across the cave, standing a couple feet behind him. His entire body was rigid, and he let out another snarl. "Guilmon? Are you okay?" I asked quietly, extending a hand out to him.

My hand was about an inch away from his shoulder when a red spark leapt from his skin, shocking me. His head snapped around, his pupils needle-thin slits, glaring at me. He let out another snarl, then in a roar of rage he screamed, "YOU WILL NOT HURT MY IAN-MON!" There was a blur of motion, then screaming pain from my chest.

I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. When I looked down to see what was causing the pain I saw the base of Guilmon's hand at my stomach, his three, long claws lodged deep into it.

Things seemed to move in slow motion as I looked back up at Guilmon. Tears errupted from my eyes as my shirt was immediately drenched in blood. I heard a rustle of movement from the opposite side of the cave, and I guessed Wolfemon had woken up. But it didn't matter.

"I love you, Guilmon," I whispered as the feeling in my body started to leave me.

Guilmon's eyes widened and his pupils spread back out into normal, horror filling them when he saw me.

"Ian-mon!" he screamed, tearing his hand out of my stomach. "No! What have I done?!?"

I started to collapse to the floor, the room swimming around my vision.

"IAN!" Wolfemon cried, the white blur of his face entering my view above me.

I was suddenly aware of the arms that were holding me – Guilmon's arms – and the tears that were running from his own eyes. "No," he sobbed, gently placing me on the ground. "Ian-mon... I'm so sorry!"

I couldn't feel any pain, which was surprising to me, so I was able to let my mind work somewhat properly. "Hey..." I said gently, raising my hand up to his face. "Don't cry, you'll make me sad..." I brushed my hand across his tear streaked face, trying to ignore the impending doom that was upon me.

He pressed his face against my hand, holding it there with his other when he realised that I didn't have the strength to hold it there myself. "Oh, Ian-mon..." he whispered.

My head tilted over to look at Wolfemon, the room blurring while I moved but coming to a halt when I did. "Thank-you for helping us... Wolfemon," I said, trying to stay conscious. "You've saved us b... both now."

"Don't talk like that!" Wolfemon said, tears forming in his own eyes. This was not something that I ever imagined him being able to do. "You're going to get through this!"

I smiled lightly, turning back to Guilmon. "I'm sorry for everything, Guilmon," I said, stopping when I felt something in my throat. I coughed loudly, my eyes widening in fear when I tasted blood on my tongue.

"No!" he cried, pressing his head onto my chest. "This is my fault! I- I- I over reacted! I left you! And now... now I've..."

With all the effort I could muster, I pressed my finger over his lips, stopping his words. He looked up at me to find me shaking my head slowly. "It's okay... I l-" My words cut short as I couldn't find the ability to speak anymore.

Carefully as he could, Guilmon placed his face against mine, rubbing affectionately. "I love you so much, Ian-mon," he whispered. "You can't die!"

I nodded, using the last of my energy to wrap my arms around him. He felt so warm now... My vision started to slide out of focus before an all too familiar darkness too over me.

But Guilmon was safe.

"NO!" I screamed into the cave.

I watched as Ian-mon started to lose the life in his eyes, trying desperately to keep his arms from slipping off of me.

"NO!" I screamed again. "IAN-MON! YOU CAN'T DIE!"

His arms fell limply to the side as I embraced his body tightly, but there was no life left in him. A large pool of blood had formed around us, soaking both him and me, but I didn't care anymore.

Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I started, nearly snapping at it.

"Guilmon," Wolfemon said slowly. "There's nothing we can do now."

Anger forced full throttle for me. "NO!" I roared, standing up with my best friend's body in my arms. "HE CAN'T DIE! YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? IAN-MON CAN'T BE DEAD!"

Wolfemon stood up, towering over me by many feet. It was all I could do to keep my eyes level with his. "GUILMON," he rumbled. "DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF INTO THINKING YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES FOR HIM." He softened out a bit after I quailed down in fear from the large digimon. "Ian is one of the few people in the Digital World who isn't scared of me, and he is pretty much my only friend. But you have to understand that life has just left him now."

My mind stumbled over that word.

"Life!" I cried in excitement, gently placing him down to the ground and unbuttoning his shirt. Wolfemon watched over me as I did so. When I opened his shirt up, I found what I had been hoping to see: the Crest of Life on Ian-mon's chest, glowing faintly.

"You see?" I said. "He can't be dead!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Thirty-Two

"This doesn't make any sense..." Wolfemon said slowly, looking for an explanation for it. "He just died, I saw that! How could he still be living?"

My eyes darted around, stopping once again on the Crest of Life. "Because the Dark One isn't dead," I said slowly. "That's why he still managed to live after the mountain collapsed on him!" I looked back up to the giant digimon, staring fiercely into his greyish-blue eyes. "We need to find the Dark One! He's the only one who can help us now!"

Wolfemon's eyes widened in shock. "What? You're suggesting that we consort with pure evil?"

I picked my precious Ian-mon back up, cradling him in my arms. The blood was starting to stop coming now. "Does it look like we have any other choice?" I demanded. "How else can we ever find out how to bring Ian-mon back except from the only one who's done it before?"

The wolf digimon sighed, his hands coming up to rub his face in stress. "Even if we were going to do that, which I strongly advise against, how are we going to find one person in the entire Digital World when he's hiding from us?"

I stopped again, holding Ian-mon's body closer to me. I could've vomitted from what I'd just done, for the crime I'd just committed, but the hope of bringing him back was pushing it aside. "I don't think we'll have to," I said slowly. "I'm sure he knows what's happened by now... He's going to come and find _us_."

"Guilmon, I hope you know that you're not only putting your own life into jeopardy, but also any chance of bringing Ian back," Wolfemon said firmly. "Making deals with the Dark One... What good could possibly come of it? Just as much as he could help, he could trick you twice as much!"

I glared up at him, almost fuming from what he was saying. "Wolfemon," I said through a clamped jaw, "whether I like it or not, this is going to happen. Now I can do this with or without you, it's your choice."

He closed his eyes, deep in thought. He bared his teeth for a moment, but I knew he was thinking of possible outcomes of this. "No," he said quietly. "I already left him in danger before. I'm not going to do it again." He placed a hand on my shoulder again. "I will stick with you both in this," he said firmly.

"Thank-you, Wolfemon," I said quietly, bowing lightly.

"So what do we do now?" Wolfemon asked.

I looked out in the direction of the exit. "We wait," I said, walking over to the remainder of the fire and sitting down before it. _He's already starting to feel cold... I really hope this fire can help._

I woke with a start, instinct pushing my eyes open. I bared my teeth, unsure of what was going on, but my instincts hadn't led me wrong before.

I retracted that thought when I felt Ian-mon's cold body in my arms. His body was limp, which I assumed was a good sign since he hadn't reached rigamortis. Wolfemon had known a surprising amount about it, and although it was strange, I didn't dare question his reasons.

Whatever the case, it looked like Wolfemon had gone out to get wood for the fire, since now all it was was a pile of ashes, so I had assumed that I would be alone in the room.

When I looked up to the opposite side of the cave, though, I found myself to be gravely mistaken.

I was looking into the eyes of the Dark One. He was standing quite smugly wearing a sleeveless leather jacket that reached all the way down to the ground, black leather boots, a black shirt, black pants... the usual black. I was, however, relieved to see that he did not manage to find some way to get the Crest of Darkness back.

With a snarl I slowly rose to my feet, clasping Ian-mon's cold body tightly against my own. "You..."

He almost laughed at that. "Me," he replied. "So the bastard finally managed to keel over, did he?"

"Watch it, or you'll be eating your own words," I barked.

He smirked, stalking across the cave until he was barely a foot away from me. His aura was so dark it was all I could do to keep from running away. "Guilmon, Guilmon, Guilmon," he said, wagging his finger in front of my face. "We both know perfectly well that you wouldn't dare lay a finger on me again, at least, not in the sate that _he's_ in."

Still having the urge to attack him, I tried my best to calm down. With a deep sigh, I tried to sort through my thoughts. Wolfemon was starting to seem right... this felt wrong. "Fine, I know why you're here, and I know you know what I want. How can he come back?"

He glanced downwards a bit, looking at Ian-mon's body. "Well it looks like he's in a similar condition that I was in," he said lightly, his disdain painully obvious. "What with... Oh, those three holes look strangely familiar." His malicious grey eyes met mine. "What could ever bring this on, I wonder?"

"That doesn't matter," I snapped, "and it's none of your business anyway."

"On the contrary, Guilmon," he said, taking another step forwards, "I was once part of this... 'thing,' " he said. "The same for everybody else in this world, when I look at him it's hard not to see myself looking back at me." He started to reach his hand down to touch Ian-mon.

I snapped at him, taking a step back. "Don't you dare touch him," I growled.

His black clothes seemed to only be making his pale skin seem even whiter. It was almost like looking at a ghost. "Of course, of course," he said with fake sympathy. He took a step back, his hands returning to his sides. "I assume the Crest of Life is still intact?" He looked at me, and I assumed that my face told it all. "No Crest? Dear this will be painful won't it?"

"He still has his Crest!" I barked, placing one of my hands on Ian-mon's chest.

The Dark One's eyes widened in surprise. "Ahh," he said slowly, opening the clasps to his jacket. He continued as he started to unlace his shirt. "Something like this, I assume?"

His shirt parted to reveal what looked more like a scar, rather than how it looked on Ian-mon. On his chest, in an identical place as Ian-mon's, was the Crest of Darkness. It looked like it had been torn into his flesh; it was a curse, not a blessing. "But your Crest was destroyed!" I roared.

"Guilmon," he said slowly. "Crests cannot be destroyed! They are very similar to energy in that way. They cannot be destroyed, merely change form. Like this, however, it takes a lot more..." He paused to search for the right word. "... 'Endurance,' to control them. His Crest, it was glowing?"

I nodded slowly, my feeling of unease growing with each passing moment. "Yes it was... What does that mean?"

"It's started then," he replied, the smile from his face wiped clean off. "The healing process. He only needs one more thing now." He looked up to me with a dark face.

"What?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"He needs a source of energy." He whipped around as I heard Wolfemon enter the cave.

When the tall, white wolf entered the area, his eyes widened in shock at the Dark One, then when his eyes landed on Ian-mon's body, a seige of anger took over him. "YOU!" he roared, dropping the large amount of wood he had been carrying. "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!" I smiled a bit as the Dark One shrunk back in morbid fear. Just more proof that he didn't have any power anymore.

He tried to gain back some of his posture, but the giant digimon looming over him was too frightening. "I- I-" he stuttered. He didn't have any strength anymore. I was very happy about that.

Wolfemon grabbed him by his shirt, took two steps towards the exit and hurled him out into the snow. He stormed back into the room, glaring at me. "I certainly hope that risking your life like that was worth it."

I slowly got back down onto the ground, trying to keep Ian-mon's body out of the cold. "The Dark One doesn't have any power anymore," I said calmly. "At least, not right now. Not for a long time. But yes, I did figure it out."

He was silent for a moment, surprised with my answer. "...So is he going to be okay?"

"It sounds like it," I replied. "The only thing is... he needs energy to be given to him... from someone else." We both looked at each other for a long while, unsure of what to say next. "So I think I should get right on that then," I said quickly, putting Ian-mon's body down on the floor. I was unsure of what to do, but I figured that it would happen anyway.

"Guilmon, wait," Wolfemon said. He sat down on the floor too, on the opposite side of Ian-mon. "I want to help too. Besides, who know's how much energy is needed?"

I smiled at him, grateful for his help. Then another idea jumped into mind. I opened up Ian-mon's stained red shirt to reveal the Crest of Life again. It was glowing, but very faintly now. When I looked back up at Wolfemon, he was nodding knowledgeably.

With that, we both extended our hands, placing them carefully on Ian-mon's chest.

Nothing seemed to happn immediately, but when I looked closer I could see that the Crest of Life was starting to get a bit brighter. Both Wolfemon and I leaned in to get a better look when all of a sudden there was a huge blast of golden light that illuminated the entire cave, nearly blinding us.

I felt weaker with each passing moment, as if my life force was actually being drained. Nothing had made me feel like this before – it started to scare me a bit. If I could've seen Wolfemon through the light, I would've seen his eyes wide in fear from what was happening.

Then just as quickly as it started, it ended.

The light faded, the Crest of Life returned to normal and although I felt weak, it wasn't as weak as I had just felt. I looked across to Wolfemon who was breathing deeply in shock, but he seemed okay.

When we were somewhat comfortable again, we both looked back down to Ian-mon's body. There was no change, and when I felt for it, there was no pulse and hope started to leave me.

Wolfemon put his hand on my shoulder sympathetically as I looked away, but a new noise made my ears prick up and my eyes widen in shock.

I whipped my head back to Ian-mon and put my hand on his chest again. He had a heartbeat, and it was getting faster and faster at an impossible rate. Then, making both of us jump, his eyes snapped open and he jumped up into a sitting position taking a painful sounding, ragged breath.

"IAN-MON!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Digiworld Adventure**

Part Thirty-Three

His eyes flicked to Wolfemon, then to me before they widedned in shock. "Wolfemon!" Ian-mon screamed, lunging at him. He wrapped his arms around the giant digimon, looking back at me with morbid fear in his eyes. "Help me, Wolfemon!" he cried, tears already streaking down his face. "You were right! I should've listened to you!" He pressed his face into Wolfemon's thick, white fur, avoiding me entirely.

"Ian," Wolfemon said quietly, patting him on the back. "It's okay, everything's okay now."

His eyes opened wide again as he tore away from the wolf digimon, betrayal burning fiercely in them. "No!" With that he turned around and ran out of the cave.

Hurt filled me, but I knew that after what I had done I couldn't expect him to act like nothing had happened. My eyes looked to Wolfemon who was simply standing in shock before I ran out after Ian-mon.

The second I touched the snow a chill sunk into me, trying to make me recoil, but after what I did, I wasn't going to stop for myself just yet.

When I scanned the snow, I found him immediately. He had only gone about fifty spans out, but when he looked back and saw me he started to go faster. "Ian-mon!" I cried. Hours ago I had been torn apart from my own crime of killing the one I loved most, then seconds ago filled with elation from him coming back to me. Now... Now he was running away from me in fear, causing me so much pain. I hated myself, but I wasn't about to let him be torn away from me again. "Ian-mon!" I shouted, dashing after him.

Even if he was used to the snow more, and even if he knew a lot more about it than I did, I was still bigger, stronger and faster than him. I quickly covered most of the distance between us, and when I was almost upon him, he whipped around, his face burning with anger and his fists bared.

I started to slow a bit, my heart feeling like it was being torn apart. "Ian-mon," I said slowly, cursing myself again and again for making one so pure as him feel so much hatred and fear. "I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" he roared, a fierce wind tearing across the land. "Sorry for killing me? Sorry for putting me back into the darkness? You killed me!"

Tears started running down my face, causing me even more pain when they started to freeze. "I already hate myself for doing that!" I shouted, taking another step towards him, my arms stretched out in submittal. "I know there's nothing that I can do to fix what I did!" I continued forwards, planning to embrace him. "If you could just-"

The second I touched him he practically exlpoded, pushing me away with all the force he could. I wasn't going to leave, though, not now. As I fought to get back his attacks became more powerful and desperate. He was punching me, kicking me, biting, thrashing, pushing, anything to get away from me. I didn't dare hurt him, just tried to restrain him. Finally I caught his arms and wrapped my own around him, pinning his to his sides. In one futile attempt o get away from me he kicked his legs out, knocking mine out from underneath me.

I collapsed on top of him, holding him tightly against me deep in the snow. My freezing tears ran onto him as he started to calm down.

"I'm sorry!" I cried, my head tucked firmly against his neck. Even through all of this his heart beat was still calming me down. "I'm sorry for what I did! You don't have to forgive me, but you have to at least let me have a chance to give a proper apology!"

He then looked into my eyes, his own, beautiful, blue eyes filled with hurt, betrayal and fear.

"I'm sorry for killing you, Ian-mon," I sobbed. "I'm sorry! But I'd rather die myself then lose you one more time! I'm sorry for killing you!"

I looked back into his tear-filled amber eyes, my heart still racing from everything. After being torn back out of that unbearable darkness, here he was – my killer and my dearest friend. After all he had done for me, after all I had done for him; after all we had done for each other, he had killed me.

I knew that he hadn't been himself, but even still it was hard for me to look into his eyes and not tremble. If one who claimed to love me as much as I did him could kill me, how could I ever possibly be safe? At least in the darkness I knew what was happening. I knew that it couldn't get any worse. But now...

"Not only did you kill me, Guilmon," I said sternly, "you thought I was _him_. No matter how much it hurt when your claws tore through me, it was nothing to the pain I felt from having the one person that I love think I was someone else. Not just anyone else, but the one I hate more than anything in all the worlds! You thought I was _him_! And you killed me because of it!"

His eyes widened in shock, his tears still falling freely as he remembered it. His shoulders started to tremble before he collapsed on me again, absolutely bawling. "Ian-mon!" he screamed, holding me tightly. "I feel so terrible! I killed you, so I sought help from the only person you truly hate to bring you back, and I even gave you some of my own life to do it! I hate myself for all the pain that I've caused you, and you still hate me! Ian-mon, just kill me now! I can't live with you hating me!"

"Guilmon," I said quietly. Fear left me, anger left me, all emotions left me to feel only sickness for making Guilmon feel like this. I pressed his sobbing head against my own, trying to calm him down. "Guilmon," I whispered. "No matter what happens in our lives, no matter what happens between the two of us, I could never hate you. I love you too much to hate you!" My shivering hand pressed against his cheek, trying to melt his frozen tears. "I can't help but feel scared of you right now, but I'm scared of everyone now! The only one I love killed me... How can I ever be safe?" I too started to cry now, all of these emotions too much for me.

I started when I felt Guilmon lick my cheek affectionarely. "Please don't be afraid of me," he cried quietly, returning his head to where it was before. "You know I love you more than anyone. How could I go on without you? I couldn't live anymore if we couldn't be together. Will you ever forgive me?"

I pulled him even tighter against me, my head spinning with all the fears and doubts whirring about it, then trying to be slowed down by love? "Of course I forgive you, Guilmon!" I exclaimed.

All of a sudden he leapt up into the air holding me in his arms. "Then let's get out of this cold before we freeze!" he exclaimed, immediately trying to put this behind us.

Fear still clung at me, wanting to be afraid of Guilmon; the snow around us – that had tried to kill me too. The elements were after me, and so had been my only love... I couldn't feel right anymore. I felt like I could just disappear and be safe. The warm arms that clung to me – they were no longer as comforting as they were before, the heart beat just not the same comforting sound it once was. I felt like I wanted him to just meld me into his body just so I could be safe.

We arrived back in the cave to find a rather astonihing sight.

Wolfemon was lying on the floor, his head in his paws, and he was crying. When he heard us he looked up, immediately trying to hide his tears. I pulled myself out of Guilmon's arms and ran to him, putting my hand on his shoulder.

In my old world, when I had been with the people who used to be my friends, I had been the one that people sought for advice, to fix their social problems, to make them happy again. I hadn't had a moment's thought about that duty since coming to the Digital World, and now all my memories of it were rushing back to me. "Wolfemon," I said quietly. I never would've expected this from Wolfemon of anyone in this world. He was always reserved, calm and somewhat void of emotion. Now here he was having what I could call a mental breakdown! "What's wrong?"

When he looked up at me, he realised that he wasn't going to be able to get away from answering this. "There's... something that I haven't told you," he said hesitantly. He stopped as another wave of sadness crashed through him. "I... I had... I was a chosen digimon!" He looked up to me with tears rolling down his face, almost pleading for something.

My eyes furrowed down in confusion. "You mean... with one of the groups of kids you told me about before?" I asked.

He shook his head, his ears flattened down against it. "No..." he said through his quaking. "There was me, Andre, Marisela, Pixiemon, Gabriel and Tozimon. Three humans... three digimon... And then..." He stopped, looking at his own paws like they were minions of the Dark One.

I couldn't get past this. "What happened, Wolfemon?" I asked.

He muttered something, barely audible at all, let alone understandable.

"Wolfemon?" Guilmon asked quietly. "What happened to them?"

He looked back up at us, spaced out in a zone of sadness fear. "I killed them," he whispered. "Talissmon... he took me and my human and used the darkness to control me! I couldn't stop myself! I had to watch as I killed them all! After he made me kill Andre... I broke free of his power and killed him too!"

My eyes widened in fear from what he was saying, and I heard Guilmon gasp. Wolfemon looked at us sadly, like we were going to run away, and part of me was telling me to do that. But the other part realised that Wolfemon hadn't been in control of his own body. I leaned down and embraced the huge digimon, and in a moment I noticed that Guilmon was doing the same. "Wolfemon..." I said in a hush. "I... I don't know what to say..."

He curled up into a ball and let out a loud howl that tapered off into a whimper. "Just stay for a little while," he whispered.

"We'll stay as long as you want us to," Guilmon said.

For the next few hours Guilmon and I had to put aside whatever we still needed to resolve between each other to help comfort Wolfemon. It was as if all his strength and how he looked like he never had emotions seemed to make him even more vulnerable for the time that he actually broke down. It was so sad to see him like this, especially for what had put him into this state. He had had his own partner, something that he obviously pined for, and he had been forced into killing him and everyone else he cared about.

Neither Guilmon or I could find words to help quell his restless soul – I knew that when the time came that Guilmon and I needed to leave would be hard. But for now, I couldn't think about that; we were here with Wolfemon now, and that's what mattered most.

Finally, the cave fell silent once again. Wolfemon was curled up like a sleeping cat around Guilmon and I who were both leaning against his side.

He seemed to be sleeping, but whether or not he was, Guilmon and I needed to talk. I turned to him to start, but he was just as tired as Wolfemon had become. Before I could say anything he slid to the side onto my shoulder and drifted off.

"Guilmon," I sighed, lightly kissing the top of his head. _I hope things can just get better... I don't like to be uneasy around you._

I closed my own eyes, leaning onto him.

I woke up with my back to Guilmon, both of us curled up on the stone floor. I didn't think that Guilmon was up yet, so I rolled up to see Wolfemon roasting fish on a fresh fire. "Good afternoon," he said, seemingly back to normal. He smiled a bit as he spoke which made me hopeful that he was all right now.

I rolled up into a sitting position looking across the fire at the great digimon. "Are you feeling better now?" I asked, not perturbed in the least by the time.

"Thank-you for earlier," he said, looking deep into the fire. "After all that was happening with you and Guilmon, it was like reliving what happened with me and Andre... I just couldn't take it much more. You two really helped me. I think I'm good now."

I smiled widely, faltering when I thought back to how I had reacted when I came back. "Wolfemon," I said timidly. "You always seemed too... barred up to me. You obviously have unsolved problems, much like Guilmon and I... You need to find a way to fix things otherwise they're going to haunt you for the rest of your life." I didn't want to be harsh, but this was always the way it was with situations like this for me. You have to be firm, otherwise nothing will happen.

He took a long, shuddering sigh. "I know," he said quietly. "Thank-you." There was a long pause, then he looked over to Guilmon. "Are you two okay now?" he asked. "I managed to look like a fool for hours and distracted you from your own, more important issures."

"Wolfemon..." I said, bothered by how much he seemed to dislike his own emotions. "Everyone has emotions; you just need to find another way to deal with them." I looked back to Guilmon too, a chill running through me when my eyes landed on his long, sharp claws. "I don't know..." I said slowly. "He obviously just wants to move on, to keep going with life... but I don't know. He can go on just fine now – but I don't think I'm all that comfortable with him yet. I love him... so much, but I'm scared of him. I used to feel safe when I was around him, but now... I just can't get over the face that he took my life away." I too took a long sigh, trying to remember times that hadn't been like this. We had been inseperable, and that was how we wanted it. "I don't want to be, but my own instincts have been all turned around now."

"Well," Wolfemon said slowly, "I'm obviously no great shakes in this matter, but I think that your only option is time." He took a moment to turn the fish over. "You still love him as much as he does you, that much is clear, and I can't imagine you leaving him, so yes. Time seems like the best choice."

"Great," I grumbled, knowing that he was right. "My favourite."

I started as I heard Guilmon wake up. He shook his head, trying to wake up a bit better, then he crawled over to the fire, keeping about two feet between us. He kept his eyes to the ground, and he sat cross-legged before the fire. "Good afternoon," he said quietly.

"Good afternoon, Guilmon," I replied, looking over to him worriedly. He was leaning onto his hands, his claws spread out on the floor. There was a feeling of... discomfort around him. "Feeling okay, Guilmon?" I asked him.

He nodded slowly, keeping his gaze in the fire. "Just a little bit hungry, that's all," he said.

"Well you decided to wake up at the perfect time then," Wolfemon said. "The fish is just finished." He reached around the fire, passing him a fish on a stick.

I took the one that he handed me, and the three of us sat in silence as we chewed. It was a long and painfully uncomfortable meal, most of which was silence. I had never felt so awkward in my entire life. Here I was, having the adventure that I had dreamed about for the greater part of fifteen years, with my two best friends in the world, and we couldn't think of anything to say. We had all let out information that we probably would never have said if we had the chance...

When I was done the fish I threw the stick and bones into the fire, looking over to Wolfemon. "Thank-you, Wolfemon," I said. "That... that really hit the spot." I glanced to Guilmon who had barely touched his fish. "You sure you're all right, Guilmon?" I asked. I had never seen him like this before.

He nodded slowly, then stood up. "I'm just going to stand outside for a moment... get some fresh air."

I frowned when he turned around, because now my suspicions were confirmed that something was up. He would never go out into the cold unless he had to.

Once he had disappeared out the entrance I looked to Wolfemon who was already nodding. "Don't be long, it's snowing out again and I fear there could be a blizzard today."

"Thanks," I said, getting up.

I went out of the cave, trying to shrink into my shirt as the icy wind bit at my exposed skin. Guilmon was just standing against the mountain, looking out into the snow with a sad look on his face. The snow wasn't too bad, but from the looks of the dark clouds above it was going to get worse. After a deep sigh, trying to let out my pent up stress, I stood against the snow in front of him, taking up his entire view.

He didn't say anything, but merely looked sadly into my eyes.

"Guilmon," I said quietly, my voice barely audible over the wind. "Don't tell me there's nothing wrong, because I know you too well to know that there is. What is wrong?"

He shuddered and slid down in the snow into a sitting position. He looked like he was about to break down just like Wolfemon had. Still, though, he didn't say anything. Instead he put his head on his knees, trying to avoid it.

I sat down beside him, then trying to push my fears aside I wrapped my arms around him. "Guilmon," I said, "I know that I've hurt you, but how can I fix anything if you don't tell me what the matter is?" My voice got even lower now. "I've forgiven you for what you did, and I'm not worried about that anymore; I've put that behind us! I just can't help it if I feel I need my space right now. I want things to be back to normal just as much as you do, because I can't stand feeling like this! It's almost worse than not having you here anymore!"

Guilmon looked back up to me. "I just..." he croaked, "... I just can't stand you being scared of me! It tears me up inside that every time you look at me that I see fear in your eyes. Wolfemon said that we needed time, but I just don't know how long I'll be able to wait and keep my sanity."

I let out another long sigh, placing my head on top of his.

"Guilmon..." I started, unsure of where to go with this. I took a long pause and simply looked into the mountain, waiting for something to come to me.

After a few minutes I was able to start again.

"Guilmon," I said, "I feel just the same way that you do, and I want you to know that I am going to do everything I can, everything within my ability to make things get back to normal. It would just make it so much easier if you weren't like this, if I didn't have to see you sad like this. It makes it so much harder for me when I see you like that..."

He returned the hug, shivering from the cold. "I will do my best if you do yours," he said, a smile tugging at his lips.

I smiled back, standing up with him. "Well let's get out of this cold then," I said, patting him on the back.


End file.
